


Sunny's Girl

by GemmaRose



Series: Kyla's Story [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Age Regression/De-Aging, Anger Management, Anxiety, Armament Haki, Assumptions, Biased Teaching Materials, Birthday, Birthday Party, Birthday Presents, Blood, Boarding School, Bullying, Burns, Canon-Typical Violence, Clothes Shopping, Cooking Lessons, Cooking With Mom, Coping Mechanisms, Dancing, Dreams, Dubious Morality, Eye Gouging, False Identity, Families of Choice, First Crush, First Dates, First Kiss, Friendship, Gen, Goodbyes, Haki, Hallucinations, Hostage Situations, Identity Reveal, Kendo, Kidnapping, Killing, Kyla may have some issues with that, Leaving Home, Lullabies, Meeting Your Idols, Meeting the Parents, Memory Loss, Middle School, More OCs, Mugiwara & OC, Nakamaship, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Observation Haki, Original Character-centric, Panic Attacks, Protective Mugiwara, Protectiveness, Racism, Racist Language, Santoryu, Scars, School, School Dances, School Uniforms, Sleep Deprivation, Slice of Life, Socially Inept Kyla, Sparring, Starvation, Teenage Awkwardness, Threats of Violence, Worry, at last this self-indulgent nonsense ends, come to think of it i probly should've added that tag a long time ago, goodbye kiss, holy shit that's a lot of tags, mutual first time friendship, sleep paralysis, somehow im not that surprised, wow there's a tag for that?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-15 09:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 63
Words: 126,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4602006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At age six, she discovers what it is to have a family. At nine, she learns the feeling of taking a man's life. At thirteen, she falls in love. These are pages in Kyla's story, a handful of many which tell of her time growing up as a member of the Pirate King's crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Age 6: Presentable

"Sanji."

Kyla didn't lift her head at the navigator's stern tone, opting instead to cling tighter to the cook's jacket. He loved her, she was pretty sure of that, but what if the rest of them still wanted her gone?

"Nami, come on." Usopp cajoled. "Did you really expect anything else, the way Sanji went running off?"

Kyla tilted her head slightly, peeking through her bangs at the pirates on deck. Nami was shaking her head, but also smiling. Usopp was leaning against the railing, and nodded to her when he noticed her gaze. "How much is it?" the sniper asked Sanji, who shifted his grip so Kyla was held a bit tighter to his side.

"A million beri."

"Really?" Nami raised an eyebrow, her tone considering. "That's a lot of money."

"Nami!" Usopp wheeled to face the navigator with a judging look, and Kyla let Sanji tuck her head against his chest.

"I was joking!" the redhead chuckled. "As if any of us could turn her in without getting arrested ourselves."

"Why do you always say things like this?" Usopp moaned.

Kyla giggled, and tilted her head up to look Sanji in the face. "Put me down?"

"Of course, eggplant." he gave her a brief, soft smile, and Kyla uncurled her legs as she was lowered to the grassy deck.

"Well, I suppose if we're really keeping you..." Nami said slowly, one hand going to her chin. "First things first, you need some new clothes." her face split with a slightly wicked grin, and she clasped her hands together. "Usopp, you stay with the ship."

"Why can't Sanji do it?" the sniper whined.

"Because Sanji needs to finish shopping for groceries." the navigator said matter-of-fact-ly. "Kyla, come on." she made a beckoning motion, and the dark skinned girl left Sanji's side.

"We'll need to do something about your hair, too." Nami tutted, brushing at the mess of curls. "But first, shoes." she grinned brightly, and Kyla mirrored the expression.

\---

In Kyla's opinion, it took a surprisingly long time to reach the shoe store. Though perhaps that was because she still ached from fighting off the bounty hunter, and her bare feet felt the rough sidewalks very keenly. The shop, once they reached it, was surprisingly large. There were whole shelves of shoes in all sorts of colours and sizes, not one pair looked alike.

"So, sandals boots or flats?"

"Boots." Kyla answered quickly. She'd never seen a swordsman wear sandals or flats, so boots it should be.

"Well, that'll make things easier." Nami walked over to the shelves of smaller shoes, and picked up three pairs of colourful boots. "Sir." she raised her voice, getting the attention of the man in the front. "I'll need to see these in sizes, seventeen through eighteen."

"Of course." the man nodded. "And what colours would you like?"

Nami looked down at Kyla, and the freckled girl ducked her head. "Black." she said quietly.

"We'll try them in black and brown." Nami answered more confidently.

"I'll be right out." The man gave them a polite smile, and Kyla sat on one of the mirror-ended benches as they waited for him to return.

"Your shoes, ladies." the man said amicably when he came back with the boxes, still wearing that polite smile.

Kyla dutifully tried on each pair presented, and by the time they'd figured out her feet were a "seventeen and a half narrow" she could even tie the laces herself. None of the shoes looked like Zoro's though, with their sparkly pink and purple hearts and flowers, and all of them held her ankles stiffly. Kyla frowned at each pair.

"Alright." Nami frowned slightly. "If you don't like these, then do you like the look of anything on the wall?" she gestured, and Kyla scanned the shelves.

"Those." she pointed after a minute, hopping off the bench and moving closer when it became obvious Nami couldn't follow her line of sight.

The navigator sighed, and turned to the shoe man again. "We'll try those in black and brown, same size."

"I'm sorry, miss, but that style doesn't come in black. We do have them in a nice dark brown, though, if the little lady would prefer that?"

Kyla nodded, and a minute later was jogging around the store to test out the latest pair of boots. The feet didn't feel much different from any other pair she'd tried on, but the tall bit was taller and didn't stop her from moving her ankles. She came to a stop in front of Nami. And beamed up at the pirate. "I like them."

"We'll buy them." Nami told the shoe man, who smiled his weird polite smile again and herded them towards the counter.

"A wonderful choice. Will she be wearing them out?"

"Yes." Nami answered, patting Kyla's hair.

"Very well. Those will be 11,900 beri."

Kyla's eyes widened at the price, so astronomically far beyond what she could count, and she nearly reached down to start untying the boots before Nami spoke up, using a tone of voice the child had only heard directed at Luffy before. "No, because you're going to give me a fifty percent discount."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard that right." Nami placed a hand on the counter and leaned over it a bit. "Sixty percent off those shoes."

Kyla stifled a giggle behind her left hand, and curled her toes against the insides of her boots. They left the store several minutes later, Nami's purse only three thousand beri lighter, and Kyla trotted happily after the navigator.

The next place they went was a clothes store, and Nami only sighed a little when Kyla opted to get solely loose legged dark pants and pale shirts. The freckled girl did agree to colourful socks and underwear though, as well as a golden yellow single piece swimsuit with red polka dots and ruffles.

"I have to ask." Nami said as they left the boutique, Kyla wearing one set of her heavily discounted new clothes and carrying the rest in a large colourful bag. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Kyla looked up at the navigator with a worried frown. "Doing what?" if she’d been upsetting Nami since they left the Sunny...

"Dressing like Zoro used to." the redhead sighed. "Has his fashion sense rubbed off on you already?"

"Mhm." Kyla nodded proudly. "Zoro's the best."

"I suppose you'd think a haramaki is cute too." Nami groaned, head falling forward into her palm.

"What's a haramaki?" Kyla's face scrunched with confusion.

"It's that green thing he wears under his robe." Nami rolled her eyes, and might've muttered something about a crime against fashion but Kyla wasn't listening.

"Can I get one?" she blurted, nearly dropping the bag of clothes.

Nami groaned into her hand, but lifted her face with a smile. "Well, I suppose you can't keep your swords on that rope forever."

Kyla did drop the bag of clothes at that, and threw her arms around Nami's legs. "Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" she squealed.

"Alright, alright." Nami laughed. "Could you let go before I fall over?"

"Sorry." Kyla released the redheaded pirate and stepped back, but she couldn't wipe the beaming smile from her face. She was gonna get a haramaki to keep her swords in, just like Zoro.

It took some asking around for them to find a place with kids sized haramaki, but the second they found it Kyla left Nami's side for the first time since they left the Sunny, running ahead and slipping inside. The little shop was full of them, in so many colours and patterns, but her eyes couldn't locate a single one in green on the side of the room designated for children.

"Hey lady?" she turned to the grey-haired woman who seemed to own the place. "Are there any green ones?"

The old woman chuckled. "I'm sorry deary, but we've run out of the green ones. I could show you some nice floral patterns, would you like those?"

The bell over the door jingled as Nami entered, and Kyla shook her head. "You don't have anything green at all?"

Something in her tone must've stuck a chord, because the lady's polite smile became soft. "I do believe we have a few. Come, come." she beckoned, and Kyla followed her between the low tables stacked with small haramaki. "These are very popular with little girls like yourself." she pointed at two nearly identical ones, pink and purple with frogs and well dressed ladies with bright yellow hair.

"Those aren't green." Kyla crossed her arms, and glared up at the old woman.

"Well, there's also this one." the woman walked over a few more tables, and indicated one with sparkly flowers all over its pale pink background.

"No!" Kyla stomped her foot. "I want a green one!"

"Kyla, over here." Nami called, beckoning. The freckled girl stomped towards the redhead, and found her holding two haramaki with green patterns. One had a greenish blue background with big fuzzy green blobs all over, the other was a happy yellow with thick green lines running over the fabric. The lines wiggled a bit in the middle, and made curlicues at each end, but when Kyla grabbed it to hold herself they went more or less straight up and down.

"This one." she declared, clutching it to her chest.

"Are you sure you don't want the marimo one?" Nami grinned slyly. "Then you and Zoro would match."

Kyla frowned. "But isn't mom the only one who gets to call him that?"

"You-" Nami sighed and shook her head. "Never mind. You want that one?"

Kyla pulled the fabric over her head, but it got stuck when she tried to stick her arms through it. "Yes."

Nami giggled, and the old woman who probably ran the place tutted. Once her head and arms had been freed, and the old lady demonstrated how to properly step into it, Kyla quickly donned the golden material and pulled it up between her clothes and rope belt.

"A splendid choice." the old lady nodded. "Excellent for any aspiring swordswoman."

Kyla grinned, and pulled her practice sword from its spot on the rope belt. The single loop on the band was exactly the right size, and the freckled girl's grin became a beaming smile. "Do I look like a real swordsman now?" she asked Nami, bouncing slightly on her toes.

"Very scary." the navigator nodded, not quite able to keep a straight face.

"That brand is normally three and a half thousand beri, but for one with the shinai loop it's four thousand."

"Two." Nami said, and Kyla looked at her wooden sword. Her shirt was sticking out around the bottom of her haramaki, and by the time she'd finished tucking it in Nami had haggled the price down to eight hundred beri. They left soon after, and Kyla all but hung on the navigator's arm as the pair of them headed back to the Sunny.

\---

The second she set foot on deck, Kyla felt eyes on her. When she looked up from the bag of clothes, she found Brook and Franky had returned to the ship. Usopp sniggered, and Brook’s skeletal expression couldn’t really change but Kyla got the impression he was smiling at her from where he sat on the stairs with his violin.

“That’s adorable.” Usopp smirked, seated on a stool and helping Franky fill barrels with soda. “Just cut your hair and you’ll be like a discoloured mini-Zoro.”

Kyla clapped her hands on the top of her head, and glared at the sniper. “No. I _like_ my hair.”

Franky looked up from sealing a barrel shut, and his face split with a wide grin. “You look **super** cute, kid.” he ended the sentence with a chuckle, and went back to his work.

“Usopp has a point about the hair, though.” Nami picked up the bag of clothes, and looked between Usopp and Brook. “Do either of you idiots think you could get her hair brushed?”

“I can do that.” Brook lifted his bow from the strings. Kyla kept her hands clamped to her head. “Would you come down to the aquarium with me, Kyla?” the skeleton stood, tucking his violin and bow back in their case, and Nami gave the girl a pat between her shoulder blades.

“Go, let him fix your hair.” she said it with a note of finality, and before Kyla could argue the navigator started towards the girls’ room.

Kyla reluctantly crossed the deck, and followed Brook down into the aquarium room with her hands still held protectively over her hair. The skeleton sat down, patted the bench next to him and pulled a funny shaped comb from his jacket pocket. “I can promise you I won’t cut your hair.” he said smoothly, turning the comb over in his bony fingers.

“Promise?”

Brook nodded, and Kyla lowered her hands as she moved to sit where he’d indicated. He turned her so she was sitting with the aquarium on her left side, and started humming as he dragged the comb through her hair. It quickly snagged, and she blinked back the tears which sprang to her eyes. It felt like hours before the comb was removed, and by then her entire scalp was screaming. It felt like she’d lost half her hair as knots were pulled out, and a bony hand patted her shoulder in a poor attempt at comfort.

“You look much nicer now.” he said quietly, and Kyla reached a hand up to touch the hair which now hung down around her shoulders rather than sticking up into the air. It didn’t feel much different, not like when she’d properly washed it for the first time a few weeks ago.

“Doesn’t feel like it.” she muttered belligerently.

Brook laughed his weird near-musical laugh, and gently patted her head. “I could braid it, if you want to keep it out of your face.”

Kyla shrugged, but turned a moment latter at the sound of something rattling. Brook was holding a clear box full of colourful beads, and she pointed at them with one hand. “What’re those for?”

“If you wanted braids, I would’ve used these to tie the ends. When I was a boy, I was fond of the white and red ones.”

“Why?” the word slipped out almost before she could think it, but Brook’s skull gave the impression of smiling rather than glaring.

“Those were the colours of my kingdom’s flag.” he answered, and she nodded once.

“Does that box have gold beads?”

“I’m afraid they’re all plastic, but I’m sure there are a few golden coloured ones.”

“I want the gold ones.” Kyla said firmly, reaching for the box.

Brook closed a hand over the lid, and shook his head. “I’m afraid there aren’t enough of any one colour in here to cover your whole head.” he reached out and lifted a chunk of her hair, his fleshless face appearing to consider it. “Two should suffice, though.”

“What other colours are there?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure.” he lifted the box, then stood and walked over to the piano which dominated the center of the room on its brightly lit stage. Kyla followed, dragging a hand over the mast as she passed it, and watched as he plucked ten beads from the box. Each was a different colour, and she lifted one carefully from his bony palm.

“This one.” she said quietly, tilting her head up to meet his empty eye sockets.

“Blue and gold it is, then.” he ruffled her hair, and set the box down next to its lid. “Would you like to help me pick them all out?”

Kyla smiled, and clambered up onto the black bench to begin sifting through the fat round beads. It didn’t take long to pick out the handful of ones which were her desired colours, and when Brook turned her so her right side was to the piano’s keys she kicked her legs on either side of the bench. The braiding didn’t hurt half as much as the combing had, and after the first few excruciating minutes Brook started teaching her some songs which were, according to him, even older than his dusty bones.

When she finally emerged back onto the deck, every hair but her bangs now pulled into tight rows of braids, the sun had somehow begun to dip below the horizon. Robin raised an eyebrow, and Kyla’s stomach felt weirdly heavy at the archeologist’s smile. Maybe it had been a mistake, choosing to dress like Zoro once had when everyone here knew how _he’d_ looked in this outfit.

Luffy and Chopper gave her massive grins from the railing, but Luffy laughed before delivering his compliment and her stomach sank further. Thankfully, she was saved any more embarrassment by the kitchen door opening and Sanji’s voice ringing across the deck calling them all to dinner. She ran after the adult pirates, and stopped a few steps into the kitchen. The chairs on one side of the table had all been shifted closer together, to allow for a new one next to Nami’s. She laid a hand on it cautiously, then squeaked as massive red hands lifted her up and deposited her on the curved seat.

“I’ll add a step tomorrow, so you can get up easier.” Franky beamed at her, and Kyla ducked her head as her cheeks heated.

“The polite response is Thank You.” Nami said, taking her seat.

“Thank you, Mr. Franky.” Kyla said quickly, sitting down and putting her hands in her lap.

“Are you gonna eat?” Luffy asked, his mouth half full. “Cuz I’ll take your meat if you’re no-” an arm sprouted from the tanned captain’s shoulder, and smacked him across the back of the head.

Sanji gave Robin a grateful smile, and Kyla picked up the silverware in front of her. The seat across from her, Zoro’s seat, was empty still. She looked questioningly at Sanji, and his eyes flicked to the conspicuously untouched plate. “The marimo said he’d be late for dinner.” he said contemptuously, redirecting Luffy’s hand from his plate to the serving dish without even looking. “Don’t forget to eat your vegetables.”

Nami snorted, but Kyla didn’t ask why as she dug into her meal. Nobody had commented on her hair at least, so that probably looked good and not silly. Conversation flew, but Kyla didn’t look up from her plate until the door opened and Zoro entered. His eyes flicked over her, surely taking in her poor attempt at imitating his old style, and he smiled as he took his seat. He made no comment, but somehow his smile was enough to lift her heart. Zoro liked it. Kyla swallowed her mouthful of milk, and grinned at him.

“Lookit what I can do with my hair.” she said, and shook her head violently to make the beads clack together. Nami and Zoro chuckled, as did Chopper, and as her braids settled her stomach finally stopped feeling weirdly heavy. Sanji had come back for her, Nami had taken her shopping without mentioning debt or loans even once, and Luffy didn’t even want to throw her overboard. Honestly, she felt like she could fly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla's feet are measured in Japanese shoe sizes here. She'd be a kid's 11 in American measurements, or a kid's 10 in UK. By today's exchange rate, 11,900 beri would be around $95. It's a pricey pair of shoes, but would you really expect anything else from Nami? As for the haramaki thing, Kyla's wooden sword is special. It's weighted like a bokken, but shaped like a shinai. This is because it was made by Usopp, who doesn't know the difference.


	2. Age 7: Birthday

They were three days out of Soreth when Nami called Kyla into the library on the back of the ship after a few hours of training with Zoro.

“You said you can’t read, right?” the redhead asked as soon as Kyla shut the door behind herself. 

“Yes?” Kyla nodded.

“Do you know the months of the year, or anything like that?”

“Uh-huh!” Kyla nodded again. “All twelve.” she beamed, evidently proud of her knowledge.

“This is the logbook.” Nami said, placing her hand on a thick brown tome. “It’s where I keep track of everywhere we’ve been, and what’s happened there. It’s also got important information in it, like everyone’s birthdays.” she looked up, and Kyla shifted her weight as blue eyes bored into her. “Please tell me you know what a birthday is.”

“Yeah. It’s when kids get cake and presents and a party, and grown-ups get drunk.”

Nami snorted, a smile flitting across her face. “Close. It’s also when you’ll go from being six to being seven.”

Kyla nodded again, left hand drifting to her wooden sword’s hilt. “Okay?”

“If you don’t have one, I’d like you to pick one now.” she smiled, and it looked a little tired.

“Um, Spring?” she suggested.

“That’s anywhere from March to May.”

“The first one.” Kyla said quickly. “March.”

“Okay, now give me a number anywhere from one to thirty one. No, sorry, three-tens-one is how Zoro taught you, right?” Nami groaned internally even as she said it. She would have to re-teach Kyla everything from ten on up, and probably beat Zoro over the head afterwards for being an idiot.

“Yeah.” Kyla bobbed her head again. “Eight.”

“March eighth?”

“Yes.” the girl grinned, hand falling from her sword hilt. “That.”

“Okay, you now have a birthday. Which passed a few months ago, actually.”

“Oh.” Kyla’s smile evaporated. “So I’m not turning seven?”

“You know what, no.” Nami shook her head, and the freckled child’s shoulders drooped. “You’ve been seven all along, and we didn’t know it because you’re so tiny.” she stood, and walked over to ruffle Kyla’s hair. The girl’s beaming smile returned in force, and the navigator chuckled. “You know, I bet if you asked Sanji nicely he’d even make a cake for after dinner tonight.”

“Really?” Kyla’s eyes shone at the potential of sweets, and Nami laughed fully.

“Yes. Why don’t you go try?”

“I will.” Kyla declared, turning on her heel and heading for the door. “Thanks, Nami.” she called over her shoulder as she vanished out of sight. The redhead shook her head, and sat back down to finish penning in the year 1525. Knowing their pushover cook, he’d make some ridiculously huge confection. Luffy and Chopper would make sure there were no leftovers, of course, but still.

\---

Kyla sat on the bench which wrapped around the mast, and balanced her plate on her knees. Luffy had insisted they have a party to celebrate her birthday, despite it having been months ago, and now Brook was playing a lively tune while Usopp sang along and Chopper accompanied Luffy in a silly dance. Franky Sanji and Robin were over by the railing, probably talking about grown-up stuff, and Nami and Zoro were arguing over something or other.

“Come on, Zoro, lighten up.” Nami smiled and patted the swordsman’s shoulder. “Sanji’s not even being weird tonight.”

Kyla stuck a forkful of cake in her mouth and scooted around the mast to hear them better.

“Like I care what that shit cook does.” Zoro huffed, taking another swig of his drink.

Kyla swallowed her cake quickly. “That’s a bad word.” she piped up, making sure to raise her voice so she’d be heard over Usopp’s singing.

Nami’s eyes widened slightly, and Zoro’s head whipped around so fast it was almost funny.

“Miss Shelton said you’re not supposed to use words like that.” she continued, since Zoro looked absolutely dumbstruck. “They make you sound dumb, and nobody likes someone with a dirty mouth.” she lifted one finger in an impression of the young seamstress, and Nami snorted.

“You are absolutely precious, you know that?” the navigator laughed.

Kyla flushed, and looked back at her plate. Stupid, of course they didn’t care. They were pirates, after all.

Zoro sighed, and Kyla glanced up through her bangs. “Well, it was the shit cook’s idea not to swear in front of her anyway.”

“You mean Sanji?” Kyla frowned, lifting her head. “But he’s a really good cook.”

“I’m glad we kept you.” Nami grinned.

Kyla’s heart somehow sank further, and she looked back at her cake. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so appetizing anymore. She placed the plate on the bench next to her, and curled her legs up onto the hardwood seat.

“Hey, Kyla!” a hand wrapped around her upper arm, and she barely had time to see it was Luffy’s before he was dragging her through the air to where he’d been playing with Chopper. “It’s your party, you should be dancing.” he grinned, wide and beaming. Kyla looked down at the grass and scuffed one boot’s heel on it.

“Don’t know how.” she admitted after a moment, her stomach feeling unnaturally heavy.

“Oh, well me an’ Chopper can teach you.” the captain laughed his distinct, almost hissing laugh. “It’s easy! Look, you just-” he glance around, then tapped Chopper on the head. “Let’s find some chopsticks.”

“What for?”

“For dancing with.” Chopper laughed as Luffy scooped him up, and Kyla trailed after them across the deck.

“Hey, Sanji!” Luffy called out as they approached, drawing the cook’s attention away from Robin. “We need chopsticks!”

“No.” Sanji glared at the captain and doctor.

“Pleeease?” Chopper whined, and Kyla clasped her hands in front of her chest.

“Please, mom?” she made her eyes wide. “I wanna learn how to dance.”

Surprisingly, Sanji glared at Luffy harder when she said that. “You were going to teach her _that_?”

“It’s her birthday party.” Luffy huffed. “And how’s she supposed to have fun if she can’t dance?”

Sanji shifted his weight, and Kyla stepped sideways away from Luffy. “That travesty is hardly a dance.” he spat.

“I could teach the little one how to dance.” Robin interjected, and Kyla turned to the archeologist with wide eyes.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“I never knew you could dance.” Franky sounded part surprised part impressed, and Robin gave him a serene smile as Sanji kicked Luffy halfway across the deck.

“It’s never come up.”

“What sorta dancing do you know?” Kyla asked, reaching out to tug on Robin’s skirt to ensure she had the archaeologist's attention.

“Nothing extravagant, but I could show you how to waltz if you ask Brook to play one for us.”

“An Extra-gant?” Kyla frowned slightly, stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

“The word is ex-tra-va-gant.” Robin said slowly, a small smile on her face. “It means very fancy, or over the top. But you would have to ask Brook if he could play a waltz.”

“Should I?”

“Yes.” Robin nodded, and Kyla let herself be pointed towards the skeleton. “Go, ask him for a song.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t make it flow right, but Kyla spent a while dancing on Robin’s feet before getting bundled off to bed. It was, overall, a very good birthday.


	3. Age 7: Nitoryu (Two Sword Style)

Kyla scrambled eagerly up the rigging, and pushed the door to the crow’s nest open without hesitation. Most of the ship felt like home now, four months after leaving Soreth, but the crow’s nest was still easily where she felt the most comfortable. Zoro was already inside, lifting weights bigger than her entire body, and she rounded the edge of the room to pick up some of her own weights. They were much smaller, printed with two digits each instead of three or four, and she took one in each hand to warm up with while her sensei finished his own workout.

When Zoro did put down the weights, he gave her a look which was most definitely calculating. Calculating what, she wasn’t sure, but his stare was unnerving.

“We’re sparring today.” he said simply, and Kyla quickly set her weights back where they belonged. Sparring against Zoro was always fun, even if she went down to the deck with bruises all over. The shinai’s hilt was comfortable in her hands, familiar, and she brought the wooden blade up quickly as something flew through the air towards her head. It struck her practice weapon with a heavy clatter, and the young swordsman looked at the floor to see what she’d deflected. It was another shinai, this time with grey wrapping on the handle instead of off-white, and she looked from the practice blade to her sensei and back a few times before the right words came to her.

“Why did you throw yours at me?”

“I didn’t.” Zoro picked up one with a white hilt, and another with red. Right, his shinai had the same white handle wrappings as his nicest sword. He didn’t have a grey one, or a red one for that matter. “Starting today, you’ll be learning Nitoryu.”

“Really?” Kyl gripped her sword tighter, but lowered the blade. “But I’m not even eight yet.”

“I was already using Nitoryu at your age.” Zoro shrugged, and pointed at the grey-hilt shinai on the floor with one wooden blade. “You’ll be using that one in your right hand.”

“Thank you, sensei Zoro.” Kyla bowed quickly, unable to stop a smile from spreading across her face. Zoro thought she was good enough to start learning a second style of fighting, one which was a step closer to his own Santoryu. She picked up the new shinai in her right hand, and noted that it felt just slightly heavier than the one in her left.

“I’ll give you the first hit.” Zoro held his shinai out to the sides, and Kyla briefly wondered if that was how he’d stood when he got that massive scar on his chest. He easily blocked her first swing, and she leapt out of the way of his first sword. The second one clipped her shoulder though, and two hits later she lost her first shinai.

“One.” Zoro said levelly, tapping the underside of her chin with the tip of his new wooden sword. “Come at me again.”

“Yes sir.” Kyla grinned, and picked up her shiny new second sword. He could disarm her a billion times, and she would still smile. Every step closer to Santoryu was a step in the right direction, even if it was a step which sent her to bed with bruised wrists and aching fingers.

\---

Kyla nearly leapt out of her skin as a cannonball shot past her head. Not because she was unused to being in danger, but because this time it had come without warning.

“Marines!” Usopp yelled, and Kyla spun on her heel to locate Zoro. He was descending from the crow’s nest, which made it easy for her to run over to him.

“Where should I go?” she asked as the rest of the crew poured out onto the deck.

“Stick with Robin.” Zoro drew two of his swords, and she drew the Marine one from her haramaki. “Guard her back.”

“Okay.” Kyla bobbed her head once, and cast her eyes around for the archeologist. Robin was standing at the railing, eyes closed and arms crossed in an X over her chest. Luffy and Sanji were already on the Marine ship, but some of the enemy had managed to get onto the Sunny’s grass deck regardless. One was headed right for Robin, sword drawn, and Kyla planted herself in their way.

The lady swung, wide and easy to dodge. Kyla ducked closer, and struck her across the knees. A pair of arms sprouted to force the Marine to drop her sword, and Kyla turned her attention to the wider deck. Most of the Marines who’d come aboard were either down already or involved with one of the Straw Hats, but two were staggering back to their feet and heading for Robin.

The fight only lasted a few minutes, but by the time they left the Marines behind Kyla’s hands were slipping on the hilt of her sword. These guys hit hard, and there was no reprieve between their blows. Her bangs hung in her eyes, and as the Marine ship faded into the distance she let her sword dip towards the ground.

“You’re hurt.” Robin knelt and ran her fingers along a smear of blood which covered half of her upper right arm.

“Just a scratch.” Kyla grinned, twisting her sword carefully to hang it from her haramaki without hurting the archaeologist.

“Kyla!” Chopper yelled, dashing over with panic writ large across his face. “How did that happen?”

“I-” Kyla frowned at the slice which was the source of the blood, and touched it gently. “I’m not sure.”

“She was keeping Marines from engaging me.” Robin straightened up as Chopper began fretting over her wounded arm. “I suppose Zoro directed you to do so?”

“Uh-huh.” Kyla grinned, and patted the hilt of her sword proudly. “I did it good, right?”

“You did it very _well_ , yes.” Robin smiled, and Kyla’s heart soared.

Chopper gripped her left sleeve, and at a gesture from Robin she let the little doctor pull her away to the infirmary. She’d found what she could do. She could protect her family in a fight, like mom did. If that meant getting a bit scratched up in the process, well, swordsmen and pirates were both supposed to have scars weren’t they?

\---

“What the hell was that?”

Zoro let Nami’s ClimaTact hit him upside the head, and then gave the navigator a death glare which barely fazed her. “What the hell was what?”

“Why wasn’t Kyla in the crow’s nest?” Sanji was still smouldering slightly, and the cigarette between his teeth was half burnt away. 

“Because she was guarding Robin’s back.” Zoro answered simply.

“She shouldn’t have been in that fight.” Nami’s face was as dark as her most dangerous thunderheads, but Zoro didn’t bat an eye at the navigator’s fury.

“She shouldn’t be in _any_ fights.” Sanji glared daggers at Zoro, 

“She’s more than ready.”

“That’s not your decision to make!” Sanji’s voice raised, and Zoro found one hand resting on Kietetsu’s hilt.

“And what gives you the right to decide?” he growled back.

“I can fight!”

All three pirates turned to the nearer set of stairs, and saw Kyla standing there with both little hands clenched into fists. Bandages covered most of the skin on her right arm from elbow to shoulder, and her shirt and haramaki were both splattered with blood, but her face was set and determined. Zoro let his hand fall from his sword.

“You’re too young.” Sanji frowned. “Little girls shouldn’t have to fight for their lives.”

“I can help!” she stomped her foot, the heel of her boot ringing dully against the lowest step.

“She did manage to dissuade three Marines from attacking me.” Robin said gently, and hadn't she been at the foot of the stairs on the other side just a few seconds ago?

“Yeah, I can protect her real good!” Kyla shook her head suddenly, braids whipping around her face. “Really _well_. I can do it really well.”

Robin smiled proudly, but Nami just scowled. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t care!” Kyla’s hands shook, and she gripped at her sword’s hilt. “I can’t get to be a real swordsman if I never do anything dangerous.”

Sanji opened his mouth, and Zoro shot him a glare. The shit cook was a fucking pushover when it came to Kyla, but he also seemed to think that because she was young she was completely helpless. Sanji met his gaze briefly, then looked at Kyla and sighed. “I suppose if you’re not on your own it’s not _that_ dangerous.”

“You’re shitting me.” Nami crossed her arms and fixed Sanji with a glare Zoro had been on the receiving end of far too many times. “She’s _seven_!”

“And I was eight.” Robin’s tone was emotionless, ice cold, and Kyla looked at them with an uncertainty in her eyes which was almost painful to see. “Kyla, why don’t you make sure the captain gets himself to the infirmary? I believe he was injured.”

“Okay.” Kyla released her sword, and took off across the deck towards where Luffy was chatting with Brook.

“If it is her safety you are worried about, Nami.” Robin continued, her tone level. “I can assure you that I am more than capable of protecting a child of her size and capability.”

The navigator sighed, and pressed a hand to her forehead. “We’ll have to make a rule for her or something.”

“No running off in the middle of a fight?” Sanji suggested.

“I was thinking more a ‘stay by Robin’s side or face punishment’ sort of angle.” Nami replied, but her tone was flippant. Zoro relaxed minutely.

“She’s not stupid.” he interjected, drawing Nami and Sanji’s attention. “If Kyla wants to help protect us, then she knows she can’t do much for us that we can’t do ourselves.”

Robin smiled coolly. “She certainly didn’t seem disappointed when i dispatched of her opponents after she got a hit or two in.”

“She doesn’t need a rule to tell her she should stick by the person she’s guarding.” Zoro finished, crossing his arms and almost daring Sanji to argue. The blond said nothing, but pulled out a new cigarette to light off of his old dying one. Kyla came back with Luffy in tow, their captain’s forehead still dripping blood, and Zoro laid a hand on top of her head briefly. She gave him a sunny smile, and continued dragging Luffy towards the infirmary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers, it is at this point I recommend you go read [Four times Luffy didn't get to throw the stowaway overboard, and one time he did](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4697978), which is a set of drabbles relating to our favourite freckled stowaway. Additionally, starting next chapter Luffy and Zoro will occasionally be identified as the Pirate King and World's Greatest Swordsman.


	4. Age 8: Mommy's Girl

It _hurt_.

That simple thought nearly consumed Kyla’s mind as she clutched her upper arm. She hadn’t noticed the pain at first, simply letting her dominant arm drop limply and making do with a one-handed grip as she continued guarding Robin’s back, but now the adrenaline was fading and it was all she could think about. She blinked back tears as Chopper rushed over, navigating around the dead and unconscious enemy pirates with unerring ease.

“What hit you?"

“I- I don’t know.” she hiccuped, and gripped her arm tighter. She wouldn’t cry, no matter what. Swordsmen didn’t cry, not ever, and she was a swordsman now.

“That’s okay, can you tell me how bad it hurts?”

“Lots.” she sniffled, lifting her right elbow to wipe her eyes on.

“Kyla, I need you to let go of your arm so I can get a better look at it.” Chopper placed a hoof gently on the back of her hand, and Kyla gripped harder.

“It _hurts_.” she whimpered, and a few tears escaped down her cheeks.

“That’s good.” Chopper said emphatically. “Now please, Kyla, let go of your arm.” he pressed gently on the underside of her wrist, and the freckled girl let him uncurl her fingers. More tears escaped as she moved her hand to wipe them from her eyes, and Chopper made a noise of concern she’d heard directed at her mother and teacher more often than not. “It’s broken, and badly.” he released her arm and looked up at Luffy, hovering nearby while Nami made Zoro and Usopp help her remove treasure from this ship’s hold. “Can you get her back to the Sunny without moving her arm?”

“Sure thing.” he smiled, and any idiot could tell he wasn’t happy but at least he wasn’t mad. An angry Luffy was one of the scariest things she’d ever seen, and she didn’t ever want to be on the other end of those looks. One of his arms wrapped tight around her, and Kyla didn’t protest being carried all the way into the infirmary.

“Chopper’ll be back in a minute.” Luffy grinned momentarily, but sobered as he ran a hand lightly down her injured arm. “It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”

Kyla nodded, and Luffy sat next to her on the bed. “I was pretty little when I met Shanks, you know. Really tiny, like maybe thiiis big.” Luffy held a hand around her shoulder, and Kyla giggled a bit. “I wanted to be on his crew.”

She nodded again. Shanks had told them all about how Luffy had followed his crew around like a little lost puppy as a child.

“I thought if I showed them all how tough I was, they’d let me come with them the next time they left.” he lifted a hand and touched the scar under his left eye. “So I got a knife, climbed their mast, and stabbed myself in the face.”

Kyla’s jaw dropped. “No way!”

“It hurt so much, I blacked out.” Luffy chuckled, his shishishi filling the small room. “I screamed and cried so much, the town doctor could barely patch me up.”

“You’re lying.” Kyla frowned, though the accusation felt strange to point at Luffy of all people.

“Nope.” the Pirate King grinned wide. “It was the worst I’d ever been hurt back then, so I cried.”

Kyla looked down at her feet, hanging a good ways off the floor. “You weren’t a swordsman.”

“I bet broken bones hurt worse than stabbing yourself, though.” Luffy’s smile faded, and he flopped backwards onto the bed. “But Chopper’s gonna fix you right up, so it’ll be okay.”

\---

One month. That was how long Chopper had told them it would take for Kyla’s arm to heal enough for the cast to be removed. She’d argued after she woke up, until Zoro gave her a stern look and told her to listen to the doctor. She shut up then, and nodded along as Chopper explained why she couldn’t stress her arm until it was all the way better. Everything had been pretty normal after that, Kyla trailing after Zoro up into the crow’s nest while he booted Luffy out of the galley to make dinner. This ship stayed relatively quiet until he announced that the food was ready, and though Kyla’s grip on her fork was awkward with her right hand she only fumbled it once.

It wasn’t until a bit later that it became evident something was off about their youngest crewmate. Kyla was normally a very cheery child, smiling as easily and as often as Luffy, and she was almost always eager to help out around the ship. As the days passed, however, she became solemn and quiet. When she declined to play tag with Luffy and Chopper, that was when Sanji knew something was really and truly wrong.

“Kyla.” he called down to her, and she turned to look up at him. “Come on into the kitchen.” he gestured for her to follow, and she shut the door behind herself. “Bring the stepstool over.”

“But I can’t do dishes with only one arm.” she said quietly. “I can’t do anything useful.”

So that was it. Sanji turned away from the counter, and crouched so he was closer to her height. “You stop that.” he chided gently, cupping her chin and lifting her head. “You’re as talented as you are adorable, eggplant.”

She didn’t smile, hardly reacted at all in fact, and Sanji sighed as he lowered his hand. “I was going to bake some cookies. Would you like to help?”

That got a reaction. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open in shock for a moment before she responded.

“But, _you’re_ the cook.” she lifted her uninjured arm to point at him, and he stood back up.

“An extra helping hand around the kitchen never hurt anybody.” he reached down and ruffled her hair. “You could mix the ingredients into the cookie dough.”

Her mouth curled into a small smile, and Sanji grinned back.

“Can they be oatmeal raisin?”

“Of course.” Sanji chuckled, and pointed at the cabinets. “Once you have the stepstool over here, could you get out the tools we’ll need?”

“Like cookie sheets?”

“And mixing bowls, and measuring cups and spoons, and something to stir with.”

Kyla nodded resolutely, and Sanji entered the pantry as she dragged the stepstool into place. If letting her ‘help’ in the kitchen was what it took to keep her happy while her arm healed, then he’d at least teach her how to follow a recipe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Chapter 799. That happened 0.0 Also, **hooooly SHIT** was not expecting the latter half of Doffy v Law in 708 yesterday :O Like, I knew it was coming eventually but I thought there was more battle first?


	5. Age 9: First Kill

Kyla’s hands shook on the hilt of her sword, and she cast her eyes about frantically. There were just so many Marines. She had to get back to Robin’s side, had to get her first blade back from where it had been knocked out of her hands, but the only figures she could see were blue and white. One massive man, almost as big as Franky, noticed her and approached with a bloodthirsty grin.

“You must be that Kyla runt.” he held a sword which was bigger than she was, and the freckled swordsman raised her own blade defensively.

“Well, some bounty’s better than none.” the Marine laughed, and Kyla felt his blade graze her cheek as she dodged around behind him. The backs of the knees were an easy place to cut, taking down enemies so they couldn’t hurt her family anymore, and as this man fell Kyla brought her sword around again to open his shoulder and make him unable to wield his weapon. But the man fell evenly, rather than listing to the left, and Kyla’s eyes widened as her sword’s blade sank into his neck.

She yanked it out hurriedly, and the Marine lifted both hands to press on the deep gash now spurting incredible amounts of blood. He made a gurgling sound which might’ve been shock, or curse words, and slumped forwards. He was, dead. Kyla looked down at her hands, clenched so tightly around the hilt of her second sword, and before she could identify why they were shaking there was a war cry from behind her. She spun on her heel, blocked the incoming blow, and threw herself back into the fray. She had to find Robin. Everything else could wait until then.

She found Chopper quick enough, whirling through Marines in his Kung Fu Point, but before she could even get close the battle was suddenly over. The clouds the Marine captain had summoned with his devil fruit began to dissipate, and Kyla ran across the deck to throw her arms around Robin’s waist.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Robin!” she blurted pressing her face into the archaeologist’s ribs.

“There you are.” the older pirate sighed, and Kyla relaxed minutely at the gentle hand which ran down her braids.

“I got split up from you.” Kyla mumbled, looking up to meet Robin’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Robin laughed at that, and arms sprouted from the deck off to the side. “I should be asking that of you. You are the one who was disarmed, after all.”

The arms lifted, and Kyla turned her head to see they were holding her sword.

“Are you badly hurt?” Robin touched gently above the scratch on her cheek. Kyla shook her head, and took her first sword in her left hand. She shouldn’t have tried to use both swords in a real fight. Her one-handed grip was still too weak.

“I’m fine.” she grinned wide, twisting the swords in her hands and hugging them points-down to her chest. “You should see the other guys.”

Robin chuckled, and as Kyla was carefully sheathing her swords she remembered the Marine who was now surely lying dead in a pool of his own blood. The picture made her stomach twist. She’d sent men to the ground before, and as a swordsman blood was far from unfamiliar, but knowing that the man was dead made the image somehow more morbid.

She shook her head minutely as Nami strode over, ClimaTact still in hand and a viciously satisfied grin on her face. She knew morbid. Morbid was Robin’s sense of humour, or Brook’s less careful skull jokes. An enemy dead by her hands wasn’t morbid. That man wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her or any of her family. The world was better off without him in it. She nodded once, and followed the women of the crew back to the Sunny.

Their navigator was promptly dragged off into the infirmary, Chopper already fretting over the burns which snaked up her arms, and Kyla went to sit by Zoro. Both her swords needed cleaning today, but she pulled out her Marine one first. Zoro was already wiping down Kitetsu, and Kyla averted her eyes from the sword. That one had a weird feeling to it, like it was alive and didn’t like her.

“I saw the body.” he said after a few minutes, looking at her out of the side of his eye.

Kyla frowned. “I meant to hit him in the shoulder.”

Zoro’s eyes flicked to the sword laid across her knees, then to the one sitting bloody in the grass between them.

“It was that one.” she nodded at her second sword. “I was trying to use Nitoryu, and lost my grip on this one, and-” she shuddered at the memory of being ripped away from Robin, turned around in a sea of white and blue and bloody red until she had no idea where she needed to go to get back.

“It’s okay.” Zoro said quietly, reaching out to place a hand on her back. “When you’re ready.”

Kyla nodded, and Chopper came out to check on the rest of them once Nami’s arms and hands were covered in bandages. Luffy and Usopp were covered in shallow cuts, and Zoro had to stop cleaning his swords for a minute to let Chopper bandage a badly bruised area on his forearm, but Kyla got off with just a bit of antiseptic cream on her cut. It stung a little, but no more than getting hit in the first place.

"I was sixteen." Zoro said quietly once the doctor had moved on to Sanji.

"When you got lost in a fight?" Kyla asked. Given how terrible her sensei's sense of direction was, she was sorta surprised it took that long.

"What?" Zoro frowned at her, his remaining eye squinting in confusion. "No, when I first killed somebody."

"Oh." Kyla looked back at her sword, and deemed it sufficiently cleaned. "That's cool."

"Cool?" Zoro raised an eyebrow, visibly incredulous.

"Yeah. Cool." Kyla unsheathed her second sword, and started rubbing at the drying blood on the blade.

"You're saying that you have no problems with having just killed someone?" Zoro frowned. Kyla shrugged, and used her thumbnail to scrape off a particularly stubborn bit of gore.

"I don't regret it."

"Really." Zoro went back to cleaning Wado, and Kyla dipped her cleaning cloth in the bowl of pinkish water again.

"I'm not gonna regret anything I do. Ever." She kept her eyes on her sword as she spoke, and Zoro's hand rested on her shoulder as gently as ever.

"That's a dangerous promise to live to." he said quietly, his tone warning. The last time Kyla had heard that tone he'd been discouraging her from jumping out the crow's nest. She'd jumped anyways, and dislocated her shoulder catching herself in the rigging. This time though, she nodded in agreement.

"About as dangerous as being a pirate." she tilted her sword, and began cleaning the other side.

"Well, you're not wrong." Zoro sighed and went back to cleaning his most treasured sword. Kyla caught sight of her reflection in the blade, and frowned. She'd have to unbraid her hair to wash the blood out. Maybe it was time to leave it loose for a while, too.

\---

Kyla was surrounded. Faceless figures in blue and white surged around her, milling aimlessly. In her hands, her sword shivered with anticipation. He- she felt that the sword was a male presence- was excited for the impending battle, practically singing for the lifeblood of her enemies.

The swarm of Marines stilled, every indistinct face turning to her, and she became aware of a familiar presence at her back. Her family was there, between her and the corner. A massive man approached, towering over the common marines who parted around him like waves around the prow of a ship. Kyla lifted her sword, and he laughed as he met the massive man's blade.

Lightning crackled across both blades, and Kyla's sword moved almost of his own accord. He flashed through the air, making deep cuts in the hulking Marine. The man fell on his ass, crushing several normal-sized Marines, and Kyla brought her sword down on his neck. He bit through flesh as easily as any of Zoro’s blades, and a river of blood poured out to sweep the Marines who hadn’t been crushed overboard into the sea.

Kyla blinked awake, and curled tighter to Robin’s side. Her swords were tucked against her chest, and she clutched at the twin sayas with one hand. Usually she didn’t like to keep her second sword near her in her sleep, but tonight it felt less muder-y than usual. In fact, it almost felt like a comfort.

She smiled, and fell back to sleep, returning to dreams of piracy and bloodshed.

\---

Zoro kept half an eye on Kyla for a few days following the fight with the Marines with the Kumo-Kumo No Mi using captain. She _seemed_ fine, helping Sanji make lunch and playing with the idiot trio and bouncing with excitement when Nami revealed the lightning scars which now covered her forearms, but he couldn’t really help worrying. Your first kill wasn’t exactly something you dealt with overnight. Hell, he’d already been an aspiring bounty hunter when he first brought a pirate in dead, and he’d had nightmares for a solid week afterward. But according to Nami, Kyla was sleeping fine. The kid had slept with both her swords the night after the battle, which was a first as far as he knew, but aside from that nothing seemed different at all. Well, almost nothing. Her second sword, one with a temperament not dissimilar to Kitetsu’s when he first acquired the cursed blade, had become much quieter.

He hoped it was nothing, but something about the whole thing prickled with a _wrongness_ he couldn’t quite define. What was clear enough was that the probably-cursed sword she’d won from a bounty hunter on Soreth had finally taken a liking to its wielder, and he couldn’t see how that would be a bad thing. After all, some swords had personalities but he’d yet to meet a blade which was truly sentient.

\---

Kyla blinked as the candle flame burnt away to nothing, and looked up to see Zoro giving her an appraising look. Glancing back to the candle, she winced internally at how much wax had run over the edge of the bench and onto the floor. “I’ll clean that up, sensei.” she said quickly, unfolding her legs and crouching under the window seat to peel away the small pile of wax.

“Are you familiar with the concept of a swordsman’s code?” he asked as she pocketed the drippings.

“Not really.” she shook her head. With Zoro, it was best never to lie. He could always tell when she was, anyways.

“A swordsman’s code is partly an oath, but mostly a way of life. Every honourable person who wields a sword has one they live by.”

“Even you?”

Zoro nodded. “Especially me.” he lifted a hand to touch the huge nasty scar which stretched across his whole chest. “It’s hard to explain.”

“I think I get it, sorta.” Kyla frowned. “Like, Luffy lives for freedom and his nakama. And Nami lives for money.”

That startled a laugh out of her sensei. Kyla grinned, and knelt in front of him at a respectful distance. It wasn’t often Zoro laughed like that, and being the one to make him smile was always a good feeling.

“Guess I’ll have to explain it like Koshiro did.” he sighed, fixing her with a look she couldn’t decipher. “There are five rules that all good swordsmen live by. The first is honour, especially in battle. Second is integrity, or sincerity. A swordsman’s word is his oath, and once you make any decision you must stand by it.”

“What’s that have to do with oaths?” Kyla interrupted. “Isn’t that just another word for a promise?”

Zoro smiled wryly. “A decision is a promise you make with yourself.”

“Oooh.” Kyla nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Third, Respect. A swordsman respects their enemies, even in defeat. Fourth, Loyalty.”

“I know that one.” Kyla said quickly. “You decide who or what you’re gonna fight for, and then stick with it until the end.”

“Very good.” Zoro smiled, just a bit proud, and Kyla ducked her head as a much wider grin spread over her own face.

“Fifth, Courage. A good swordsman never turns their back to the enemy, and never denies responsibility for their past actions.”

“Not even the really bad ones?”

“Especially not those.” Zoro shook his head. “Any mistakes you make are mistakes you must admit to, no matter how large or small.”

“Okay.” Kyla curled her fingers around the bottom of her haramaki. She already followed those rules, or at least, she couldn’t immediately think of any time she’d broken one of them. She fought honourably, she kept her promises, she respected the skill of her enemies even when she didn’t respect them personally, and she was definitely loyal to her family. She’d never run from a fight either, or at least, not without being ordered to by one of the grown-ups.

“Is that it?” she asked after a moment. “Those don’t seem like such hard rules.”

Zoro shook his head. “Those are the basic rules that guide a swordsman’s way of life, but they only make up half the code.”

“So what’s the other half?” Kyla curled her toes in her boots, and pressed the tops of her shoes against the floor.

“That varies.” Zoro placed a hand on Wado, not grasping the white hilt but simply running his fingers over the pristine wrapping. “Each swordsman has oaths they’ve sworn themselves to. When I was young, I swore an oath to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman. When I joined Luffy, I swore to help him reach his goal. When I lost to Mihawk, I swore I would never lose again.”

“You lost to Mihawk?” Kyla’s mouth fell open, but she didn’t care. The thought of Zoro losing, to anyone, was something she couldn’t even comprehend.

“Who did you think gave me this?” he traced the scar on his chest.

“But, but-” Kyla gripped her haramaki tight. “You’re _Roronoa Zoro_!”

“I wasn't as strong then.” he answered simply. "The important thing is, I've lived to those promises. And you should be careful what promises you decide to live to." he poked her in the chest, just over her heart, and Kyla grinned.

"Okay."

"Think on it for a while. Deciding to live without regrets, that's not something to rush into."

She nodded, and got to her feet to follow him down to the deck. Sure she wasn't allowed off the ship with the members checking out the island anymore, but she could still wave them off.

\---

Zoro looked down at a tug on his robe, and patted the large puff which was Kyla's hair at the moment. "Hey."

"Can I talk to you?" her eyes darted side to side, and he lead her down to the other end of the deck.

"You made your decision?"

Kyla nodded, and he noted that the sword she gripped this time was her second one. "I'm gonna live to my promise, and I'm going to make another one." she took a deep breath, and met his eyes. “I’m never gonna kill anyone who doesn’t deserve to die.”

Zoro’s eye widened. That was an impressively vague commitment, and subject to any number of moral loopholes. But then again, she was only nine years old. True he hadn’t been much older when he swore to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman, but he hadn’t been killing people back then.

Kyla was looking up at him with those huge dark eyes, and he nodded once. “There are worse things to live by.”

Her face lit up, and she gave him a brief tight hug before turning and skipping back to the rest of the crew. Zoro sighed and shook his head minutely. Hopefully she would reword that second promise when she was old enough to know better, but until then he’d keep an eye on her. After all, she was being raised by pirates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Law was really fuckin right to say that the Straw Hats shouldn’t be allowed to raise a child. The more I write Kyla the more I realize she is one fucked up little kid. The night after a battle or a mastery test, she sleeps with her swords like a normal child might sleep with a stuffed animal.
> 
> The five “rules” Zoro gives to Kyla are taken loosely from the seven virtues of Bushido. As for Zoro’s mention of how old he was when he made that promise, well... apparently he was only a year younger than Kuina? Zoro was such a tiny child.


	6. Age 10: The Best Birthday

Kyla woke with a smile on her face, and only laid awake for a few seconds before carefully extracting herself from between Nami and Robin. She was ten today, and Zoro had promised to get her a really nice present this year since they were actually at an island. She slipped into clean clothes, tucked her swords in place, and was out the door in a flash. The sun was barely up, but it was up, and that meant it could reasonably be counted as morning.

Zoro was, as she’d hoped, already in the crow’s nest training. Kyla took a seat in her usual spot, set her swords in the corner of the windowsill, crossed her legs, and absently picked at the pile of wax drippings which had formed from the candles she used to meditate. It felt like hours before Zoro put his weights down and wrote a big number on the chalkboard, but he didn’t even acknowledge her presence until he was nearly done towelling off.

“You’re up early.” he commented.

“You said you were gonna take me to get a present.” she said, bouncing one knee against the bench. “Can we do that now?”

“After breakfast.” Zoro put the towel down, and pulled his shirt over his head. “You and I are the only ones who’re awake so far.”

Kyla groaned, and slumped back against the window. “But mom isn’t gonna be up for _forever_.”

“Train.” Zoro inclined his head briefly at her chalkboard, which hadn’t been updated since yesterday. “A few thousand pushups should last you until breakfast.”

Kyla giggled, and double checked that her swords weren’t going to slide out of place with the rocking of the ship. They were firmly planted in the thin cushion, and she slid off the bench before pulling her shirt off by the back of the neck. Mom and Nami complained that girls shouldn’t be shirtless, but they complained more when she came to breakfast all sweaty, and Zoro didn’t care if she was wearing a shirt or not, so that meant it was okay.

\---

It felt like ages, but really she’d only been awake for two hours when they finally left the ship. It took another hour for Zoro to actually find the place though, and Kyla’s hand kept lifting to touch the hilts of her swords. Not to check if they were there, she found that recently she knew where they were without ever having to look, but because if Zoro was getting her a present what could it be but something sword related? When they finally entered a shop, it was one Kyla recalled passing about half an hour ago. The storefront was fairly plain, but four beautiful swords sat in the window and there was a sword painted on the sign which hung over the door.

“Am I getting another sword?” she looked up at Zoro.

Her teacher laughed, and shook his head. “You’re not ready for Santoryu yet.”

“Then what’s my present?” she trailed into the shop after him. It was a nice place, clean and somehow fancy despite the simplicity of everything.

“Every good swordsman takes care of their weapons.” he gave her a grin. “And that means storing them well when they’re not in use.” Zoro ran a hand down the saya of his white sword, and Kyla mirrored the motion on the plain sheath Usopp had made for her.

“I’m getting a real saya?”

“Well what would be the point in that?” Zoro crouched, and laid his hand over hers so it rested on both her swords. “You’re getting two.”

Kyla clapped both hand to her mouth to contain a shriek of excitement. “Really?” she squeaked after a moment.

“You’re turning ten.” Zoro’s amused smile went soft, and he ruffled her hair as he straightened up.

Kyla looked around the shop, at the veritable rainbow of colours and patterns to choose from, and made a beeline for the greenish blue section. Golden Xs stretched across the dark background of one around her shoulder height, and she reached out towards it without thinking. The saya was cool to the touch, smooth and hard under her fingers.

“Seastone blue.” a voice said behind her, and Kyla jumped as a wrinkled hand reached over her shoulder to lift the one she’d been admiring. “I’d have to measure your swords to be sure, but I think I have this one in the right size.”

Kyla turned around, and gave the probably-shop owner a grin. “Really?”

“Yes.” the man nodded. “I’m told it’s your birthday?”

“Uh-huh. I’m ten.” Kyla sidestepped so she was no longer trapped between the old man and the wall. Zoro laid a hand on her shoulder, and she relaxed a little.

“Why don’t you hand him one of your swords, and pick out another pattern for the other one?”

It felt wrong to hand one of her weapons over to somebody who wasn’t part of her family, but at Zoro’s silent assurance she pulled her second sword from its loop on her haramaki and placed it in the old man’s free hand.

“A good sword.” he mused, curling his fingers around the sheath. “It might even be a Wazamono grade meito.”

“Really?” Zoro raised an eyebrow. Kyla wasn’t sure what the words meant, exactly, but they had to mean something important.

“I could be mistaken, of course. These things can be difficult to identify at a glance. I’d be happy to check though, if you’re curious.”

“Thank you, that would be appreciated.” Zoro inclined his head, and the old man went through a door behind the counter.

Kyla moved over to the more blue sayas, and pointed out one with the Marine crest near the opening. “Wouldn’t that be perfect for this one?” she patted her first sword, and Zoro chuckled.

“Maybe something a bit more subtle.”

“Like this?” she reached up to brush her fingertips against a mostly plain saya in the vibrant blue of a Marine necktie. The white stripes near the open end started thick, but rapidly tapered into nothing, and only reached a fraction of the way down the whole thing.

“Better.” Zoro shrugged. “It’s your present, pick something you like.”

“I like this one.” she decided, and hopped a little to pat the saya fully. Zoro reached over her head, and picked it off the wall.

“Hey, o-”

Zoro’s call to the shopkeeper was cut off by a strangled scream, and the old man stumbled out the door to slam Kyla’s second sword down on the counter. “Hey!” she frowned, wishing she were taller so the high surface wasn’t so close to her chin when she stalked over. “That’s my sword.”

The old man gave her a look of undisguised fear, then shifted his gaze to Zoro. “What sort of monster are you that you would give a child Sengo the 5th to wield?”

Kyla frowned, and reached up to grab her second sword. It was in a saya now, and she held it to her chest rather than sticking it back in her haramaki. “Sensei didn’t _give_ my this sword. I won him in a fair fight.” she lifted her chin, and the shopkeeper’s eyes widened even further.

“Him?” the old man’s voice shook with fear. “Child, that sword bears a curse worse than any other. It killed the smith who forged it, and has killed every one of its owners since.”

“Huh.” Zoro didn’t sound particularly surprised.

Kyla huffed, and slid Sengo back into its place on her hip. “I don’t care about some dumb curse. I won him, he’s mine, and Nami won’t buy me another sword so I’m not getting rid of him.” she crossed her arms, and did her best to imitate Zoro’s scary glare.

“Here.” Zoro placed the blue saya on the counter, and the old man’s eyes snapped to him. “We still need this one fitted to her other sword. Kyla?” he nudged her back, and she uncrossed her arms to carefully place her first sword on the counter.

“Yes sir, right away sir.” the man took her sword, and the saya, and hurried into the back of the shop again.

Kyla huffed, and Zoro gave her a stern look. “Him, huh?”

She looked down at her second sword, Sengo the 5th, and ran her right palm over the hilt and down the nice shiny new saya. “It feels like a him.” she said quietly.

“It’s not that common, y’know. Being able to sense your swords like that.”

Kyla’s eyes flicked to a spot on the back wall, towards her first sword, then she looked up at Zoro. “But you can do it.”

“Well, yeah.” Zoro looked somewhat bemused. “But I didn’t learn that trick until I was nineteen. It’s pretty incredible that you can do it already.”

“What can I say.” Kyla shrugged, leaning back against Zoro’s legs slightly. “I have a really good teacher.”

He laughed at that, and after a minute of comfortable silence the shopkeeper came out with her first sword in its new saya.

“Take it.” he dropped the sword into Kyla’s outstretched hands. “Take your swords and get out of my shop."

Zoro nodded once, and Kyla carefully slid her first sword back into place. The two sayas clicked against each other, and she couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face. Zoro didn't hold the door for her, and as Kyla propped it open with her left hand the shopkeeper called out to her.

“Little girl."

She looked over her shoulder and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, though he had no way of seeing it under her bangs.

“I must warn you. Every swordsman who has wielded that accursed sword has become a terrible bloodthirsty demon."

Kyla stretched her grin wider, and narrowed her eyes in her best impression of Zoro's scariest smile. “Who says I'm not one already?”

The man made a terrified squeak, and she giggled as she stepped out into the street. This was a good birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter 800 happened 0w0
> 
> I'll easily be able to keep this canon compliant. Or, well, as close to canon compliant as you can get with this sort of fic.


	7. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 1

Sanji hated fighting Devil Fruit users, he really did. For example, this guy who’d picked a fight with them on their way back to the Sunny after checking out the island. The feeling of being frozen inside a beam of bullshit magic light was uncomfortably familiar even five years after that fucking Davy Back fight, but this was different. This guy had yelled “Wakai Wakai BEAM” and he’d frozen in place, along with Usopp and the marimo. But this felt different than being stopped in his tracks or immeasurably slowed down. It was like he was trapped in a single stretched second, every muscle screaming as he tried to move forward, to kick this bastard into those trees half a mile away, to do _anything_.

When time started moving again, he would’ve screamed if the muscles in his chest and throat hadn’t seized up in flaming agony as well. This wasn’t the town. Hadn’t they been in the town just a moment ago, checking the place out to make sure it was safe? No, what town? They were supposed to be on the Sunny… But no, that couldn’t be right, they still had to get back to Sabaody...

Sanji’s eyes didn’t shut, didn’t move at all, but had he not been frozen he would have crumpled to the ground utterly unconscious.

\---

Luffy winced, and stretched his arm into the beam again. He wasn’t sure where they were, or what was going on, but it was pretty clear his nakama were in trouble. Chopper was fighting some man wearing the same dumb hat as the beamy guy, and Luffy’s arm burned as he grabbed the back of Zoro’s robe. His swordsman and vice-captain looked wrong somehow, but his mind was too hazy to wonder about that now. It was a mystery, he’d ask Chopper about it later.

Chopper, who had just managed to throw his opponent into the beamy guy. The purple-ish light disappeared, and Chopper- “Whoa!” Luffy’s mouth fell open into a wide grin. “Chopper is that you?” he ran over to the reindeer, who now stood as tall as him at the shoulder and had massive huge antlers. It barely looked a thing like his doctor, but it _had_ been two years since he saw his crew.

The reindeer shifted, and yeah that was Chopper, looking up at him with wide worried eyes. “Luffy?”

“Whoa, what a cool hat.” the captain reached down and patted the big blue ball-like thing which had replaced the more cylindrical pink one. “You got way stronger!” he glanced around, and frowned. This wasn’t Sabaody. Come to think of it, he hadn’t even gotten off of Hancock’s ship yet. “Where are we?” his eyes landed on Usopp and Zoro, both asleep on the ground. “Why’re they asleep?”

Chopper opened his mouth, tears in his eyes, then shut it and shook his head. “That guy has a Devil Fruit.” he pointed at the man who was struggling to get to his feet. “He did something.”

“Really?” Luffy cocked his head to the side, and looked at the man. He didn’t look like much of a threat, but if he’d made them forget stuff like that mystery seahorse had... “Hey.” he stepped away from Chopper, and stretched to grab the guy’s shirt. The man wasn’t even that heavy, and Luffy easily dragged him over to lift up. “Whatever you did, turn it back.”

“I- I-”

Luffy shook him, and put a little bit of Haki in his next words. “Turn them back.”

The man’s eyes rolled back in his head, and Luffy dropped him. “Oops.” he grinned sheepishly at Chopper.

“Luffy, the other one!” the reindeer pointed, and Luffy easily grabbed the fleeing man by the back of his collar.

“Please don’t hurt me!” he threw his arms over his face. Chopper stepped up, but Luffy didn’t let go of the guy’s shirt. He was missing memories, that much was clear, and if Chopper could make this guy could provide answers, well, that was great.

“What Devil Fruit did your boss eat?”

“The Young Young Fruit. He uses his Wakai Wakai Beam to make big name pirates like you guys completely helpless, then captures them and turns ‘em in for the bounty.” the man spoke quickly, tripping over his words.

“How do we make him turn them back?” Chopper gestured widely with one arm, indicating the other Straw Hats asleep in the grass.

“Boss can’t turn nobody back, but they go back on their own soon enough.” the guy said quickly. “Bout a month and you’ll be right as rain, Mr. Pirate King sir.” he looked at Luffy as he said that, and the rubberman released the guy’s shirt.

“I’m not the Pirate King.” he said, crossing his arms. “But I’m gonna be, once I find One Piece.”

Chopper turned and started walking away at that, over to the pile of crumpled dark clothes near where the beamy guy had been. The beamy guy’s sidekick ducked his head, mumbled something which sounded like an apology, and bolted off towards the woods. Luffy shrugged, and went to crouch at Chopper’s side. There was a tiny blond kid in the middle of the clothes, and his filthy uneven bangs were brushed back to show eyebrows which curled in the same direction. Huh, that was weird, the kid almost looked like Sanji.

“Luffy.” Chopper short to his feet, eyes wide. “We need to get them back to the Sunny right away.” he shifted into the huge reindeer form again, and tossed his head. “Put Zoro and Usopp on my back.”

“Okay.” Luffy bounded over to where his sniper and swordsman were sprawled on the grass, and grinned a bit as he lifted Usopp. The sniper hadn’t changed a bit, except for his clothes. The smile vanished as he lifted Zoro, though. The swordsman was far too small for the robe he wore, and his hair was way too short and his chest was free of any massive scars. Zoro was younger than he should be, and it made Luffy’s chest go tight. If the beamy guy wasn’t already out cold, he’d beat him into the ground.

“Now, you need to carry Sanji.”

Luffy lifted his head, and gave Chopper a quizzical look. “Sanji?”

“He’s over there.” Chopper gestured with his head at the pile of clothes which mostly hid a tiny blond. “You have to be really careful with him though. And make sure you don’t forget his shoes.”

Luffy picked up the blond child, and his stomach turned. The kid really _was_ Sanji, now that he took a better look, and he was way too light. He weighed practically nothing, even less than Chopper, and those were _bones_ Luffy was feeling through the crumpled jacket and slacks and nice button down shirt.

Luffy numbly collected Sanji’s shoes in one hand, and cradled his nakama in his arms. As soon as Sanji was safe, he was gonna come back and beat that beamy guy until he was nothing but dust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This incident is pretty long, so I’ll be splitting it into multiple chapters. No points for guessing what the last thing Sanji remembers is.


	8. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 2

The second they boarded the Sunny, Chopper shifted into a barely-human Heavy Point. Usopp and Zoro hit the deck unceremoniously, and Luffy didn’t protest as Sanji was lifted from his arms. Chopper rushed off into the infirmary, and Luffy curled his hands into fists. The reindeer doctor had told him in no uncertain terms he had to stay until he underwent complete a medical examination, but all he wanted to do right now was go back and punch that beamy guy in the face a few dozen times.

“Luffy?” Nami’s voice was hesitant, and he looked up to see that his navigator had grown her hair out.

“Hi, Nami!” he grinned, forgetting for the moment how badly Sanji was hurt because of that guy. He wrapped her in a hug instead, and when he pulled away Robin and Brook had appeared. And then Franky arrived, and every other thought flew out of his head.

“So cool!” he bounded over to his shipwright, his awesome cyborg nakama, and Brook laughed. Chopper had said he was missing three years worth of memories, and the scars to go with, but that was fine because after three years everyone was still together and okay and that was what mattered.

\---

Nami groaned, and hung her head in her hands. Robin was trying to pry an answer out of Luffy as to what the hell happened while they were out on Trident Island, and Brook was plucking at the strings of his violin absently rather than playing a song to actually wake up Zoro and Usopp.

"Nami?"

Her head whipped around, and she nearly did a double take. It was one thing to see their sniper lying there looking seventeen years old again, but a bit another to hear him speak. "Usopp!" She pulled him to his feet and hugged him.

The long-nosed man looked completely stunned when she released him, and his grip on her arms was hesitant. "But, you left." he said slowly. "You took Merry and ran."

Oh. That was right. Luffy had mentioned offhandedly that the last thing he remembered before fighting on Trident was sailing back to Sabaody. That meant the last thing Usopp remembered was, well, when she stole the Merry and ran back to Arlong. "Yeah, five years ago." she hit the side of his head with an open palm. "Look around! We're not even on the Merry anymore you idiot."

He blinked, and glanced towards the bow of the ship. "Where, are we?"

"You've forgotten the last five years, okay? Some jackhole bounty hunter with a Devil Fruit turned you into a teenager again."

"Well, that explains your, uh, hair."

Before their sniper could stammer out anything more, Brook finally set bow to strings and began to play a lively tune. Zoro was on his feet in an instant, and then promptly tripped on his too-long robe and fell on his face.

Brook chuckled and lowered his violin. "Good to see the both of you awake."

Usopp and Zoro's screams rang out across the deck, and Nami could've sworn Zoro's was the higher pitched of the two.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" the swordsman shrieked, drawing his white sword and pointing it at Brook.  
"GHOST!" the sniper howled at the same moment.

Nami cracked both of them over the head with the warm and cold rods of her ClimaTact. "He's not a ghost, he's Brook." the skeleton was laughing, crazy nutjob that he was, and Zoro turned to glare at her. It was disconcerting, having to look down to meet his eyes instead of up to meet his eye.

Then he seemed to realize they were on a ship, and she saw more emotions cross his face in the span of two seconds than she usually saw in an entire week. He abruptly bowed, and slid his white sword back into its sheath. "I'm sorry." he blurted, hands held at his sides. "I must've fallen asleep on your ship by mistake. I’d hate to be a burden so if you could please let me off next time you make port I’ll find my own way home.”

Nami’s mouth fell open. There was no way this was Zoro. He was too small, too high-pitched, and far too polite to be their swordsman. But then again, nobody else had hair like that, and he was clutching at the white sheath of his sword like it was something familiar. She sighed, and grabbed one of his shoulders. Pulling him upright, she spun Zoro to face Trident. “We’re already _at_ an island you idiot. But like hell are we letting you off this ship. You’d get lost as hell and then we’d be running all over the place trying to find you.”

“Won’t _let_ me?” Zoro’s eyes went hard, and that was a far more familiar expression.

“Yep.” Franky stepped up behind Zoro and laid a massive red hand on his shoulder. “You’re nakama.”

“Please.” Zoro scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’ve never met you guys before.” he glanced up at their flag, and scowled. “Not that I’d be friends with pirates even if I had met them.” he turned to walk away, but Franky’s hand on his shoulder stopped him before he took two steps.

“Might wanna rethink that, Zoro-bro.” the cyborg said warningly. “You’re what, thirteen? New World’s no place for a kid to be on their own.”

“I’m fifteen.” Zoro snapped, crossing his arms. “And I’m the youngest Nitoryu master Ofrax Island’s ever seen. Probably the youngest in all of East Blue!”

Nami sighed, and gestured to his now too-large robe. “Look at yourself, Zoro. You’re nine years younger than you should be, and you don’t remember any of that missing time.”

He looked down at himself, the comically oversized clothing which barely clung to his shoulders, and Nami nodded in satisfaction. The Zoro she knew was stubborn, but if he was so much more polite as a child maybe he was more pliant as well. “You’re Roronoa Zoro, the best swordsman in all the Blues and vice captain to the Pirate King. We’ve sailed together for five years.” she reached out and gripped his shoulder which wasn’t clamped in Franky’s iron fingers.

“Not sure I believe you.” he crossed his arms, but thankfully didn’t reach for his swords. Even when he was a full head shorter than her, Nami was certain she wouldn’t be a match for Zoro in a close range fight.

“We’ve got pics!” Franky looked from Zoro to Robin. “Hey, Robin-sis. Where’s the logbooks?”

“Excuse you.” Nami frowned and kicked the cyborg’s leg. “The logbook is _my_ job.”

“They're in the library.” Robin smiled.

“Usopp, Luffy, you come too.” Nami gestured for the other two men to follow her. Luffy crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Nope.” her captain shook his head.

“Luffy I swear to god.” she growled as Robin started leading Usopp and Zoro into the library.

“Nami.” Luffy gave her an actually serious look. “I don’t wanna read about adventures, I wanna have them. Just reading about it’s no fun.”

“Fine.” Nami threw her hands up. Luffy was impossible to reason with when he made up his mind. “Franky, fill him in on the important details.”

“Will do, Nami-sis.” the cyborg beamed.

The navigator sighed, and pressed a hand to her forehead as she started towards the library. Honestly, being the responsible one was so much harder than it should be considering there was only one actual child on this ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, Nami is 5’6” (169cm) when barefoot. Considering her heels are about an inch and a half though, she comes in closer to 173cm. Zoro, by comparison, is normally 5’11” (181cm), or almost a whole head taller than Nami. As a teenager however, he’s 5’0” (152cm) because he was, in canon, a very tiny child. Seriously, when Kuina was hitting puberty Zoro still looked **seven**. So consider this as Zoro just a few months before his first real growth spurt.


	9. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 3

Usopp squinted, but the letters refused to come into focus. Probably a lingering effect of whatever Devil Fruit had turned him and Zoro younger. He’d been hesitant to believe Nami at first, considering she _had_ run off with their precious Going Merry, but the creepy lady who introduced herself as Robin had pulled a well-worn journal from the shelf and set it on the table for him and Zoro to read. Most of it was boring, records of weather and the dumb shit he got up to with Luffy and Chopper, but every few pages there would be a block of text detailing the events which transpired on an island. Honestly, some of these things were even more fantastical than his lies!

The words kept getting harder to read though, and his headache was pulsing painfully. A glance at Zoro- too young, too small, too expressive- gave no signs that the younger teen was still being affected though, so he lowered his face closer to the pages and plowed on. The second journal detailed their travels through the New World, and he had to pull the weird sniper goggles down over his eyes to make the letters stop smearing on the page. Apparently they’d picked up a few thousand underlings not too long after reuniting, and there were so very many newspaper clippings about that incident.

Then they’d apparently picked up a pair of stowaways, and Nami and Sanji had adopted them while Zoro trained the girl to fight. The swordsman made a noncommittal grunt at that, and Usopp turned the page. They’d handed off the baby, but kept the girl, and Usopp’s eyes scanned the lines of data about her without really reading it. There were more detailed accounts, ranging from improbable to straight up impossible, and he stopped at a newspaper article with a larger than average picture. It was unmistakably Zoro, but their swordsman was missing an eye and the large bold headline read “ **Hawk Eyes Mihawk Defeated!** ”

In the chair next to him, Zoro gasped.

“What happened to my eye?” he reached out and pressed a finger over the scar in the picture.

“We don’t actually know.” Nami leaned back in her chair, tipping it onto its hind legs. “Well, it probably came from Mihawk, but it’s not like you talked much about the two years you spent with him on Kuraigana.”

“I did what?” Zoro’s tone was disbelieving, awestruck, and the green haired boy leaned forward in his chair.

“Trained under Dracule Mihawk for two years.” Robin said evenly, as if stating that the breeze was nice. The effect was somehow immensely creepy, and the chill that ran down Usopp’s spine only served to make him feel colder than he did already.

“And then I beat him?” Zoro shook his head. “No way.”

“The proof’s right there, idiot.” Nami’s chair thunked down on the floor, and she leaned forward to bash a fist across the top of Zoro’s head. “Now do you believe me about those missing years?”

“I guess.” Zoro swayed slightly with the rocking of the ship as he rubbed the top of his head.

“Zoro? Usopp?” an unfamiliar voice called from the doorway, and the sniper turned to squint at it. Brownish, with a blue blob on the top. It trotted closer, and he made out the form of something that looked an awful lot like a tanuki with antlers.

“Heya, Chopper.” he grinned. He would’ve raised an arm in greeting, but right now moving felt like it wouldn’t be fun.

“Ah!” the little doctor squawked, and rushed forward to place a tiny hoof on each of their foreheads. “You’ve both got terrible fevers! Nami, Robin, you two carry Zoro.” Chopper abruptly quadrupled in height, and Usopp’s world span in a rather nauseating way as he was scooped up to a fluffy brown chest.

“I’m fine.” he bluffed, struggling weakly to free his legs. “I can walk to the infirmary myself.”

“Nope.” Chopper strode out onto the deck, and the sun stabbing into his eyeballs made the about-to-puke feeling so much worse. Thankfully they were soon inside again, and Usopp didn’t even complain as Chopper made him swallow bitter pills and disgusting liquid medicine. Fever and migraine was the diagnosis, same as Luffy pouting next to him and Zoro when he was brought in with an arm over the shoulders of each girl.

Usopp groaned, and put his head in his hands. Hopefully this headache would pass soon. He sorta wanted to try out that tire swing out on the grass deck…

\---

“We what?!” Luffy yelled, making Usopp wince fully and Zoro flinch slightly. Their migraine medicine hadn’t kicked in yet, but Luffy’s evidently had.

Nami pinched the bridge of her nose, and wondered if Chopper had anything on hand for normal run-of-the-mill headaches. Oh who was she kidding, of course he did, he was Chopper. And even if he didn’t he could make some up in a flash. Or at least, he could’ve if the whole crew save Kyla wasn’t currently stuffed into the infirmary.

“We can’t tell Sanji anything when he wakes up.” the reindeer repeated himself. “Or at least, nothing about the memories he’s missing. That seems to be the cause of your problems, at least.” Chopper inclined his head towards the visibly miserable Luffy and Usopp, and the comfortingly stoic Zoro. “There must be something about that guy’s devil fruit power which is meant to prevent the victim from regaining their memories while still under the effects of the Wakai Wakai Beam.”

“But why can’t we tell him anything?” their captain demanded again. “Zoro and I both learnt we achieved our dreams, and we’re fine.”

“Zoro has a fever of 39.5C. ” Chopper crossed his arms. “As soon as we’re done here, all three of you are going on bed rest.” he uncrossed his arms to gesture at the three too-young members of the crew, and Luffy began to protest. Before he got more than four words out, though, a scratchy voice cut through the slowly rising din.

“We have to turn around!”

Nami looked at the bed, heart clenching briefly at the sight of their chef so emaciated. “You’re awake!” she exclaimed, nudging Robin’s ankle. The older woman took her cue admirably, and sprouted an arm to cover Luffy’s mouth and keep him silent.

“We need to go back for Zeff.” Sanji insisted, struggling to sit up.

“Actually, no.”

Nami glanced at Usopp, who was looking remarkably steady on his feet for a man who’d been whining about how much his head hurt not two minutes ago.

“Is he dead?” Sanji’s visible eye welled with tears, and Usopp quickly shook his head.

“Of course not!” he held out his hands placatingly. “We just sent him with one of our other divisions, since our infirmary’s so small. Their doctor’s not _quite_ as good as our Chopper, but she’s pretty awesome.” the sniper planted a hand on Chopper’s hat and smiled brightly.

 

“But, how come I’m not with him?” Sanji’s voice shook, and Nami wondered if all of her crew had been such drastically different people before Luffy crashed into their lives. She certainly had been.

“Well, you see...” Usopp paused, and Nami lifted her voice ever so slightly.

“Chopper’s a pediatrician.” she glanced at Zoro, so small and frail-looking now, and smirked. Brook chuckled, and the edges of Robin's eyes crinkled ever so slightly. The swordsman stood, and Nami grabbed his shoulder before he could leave through the kitchen door. “The boys’ room is through the doors on the other end of the grass deck. Even you can’t get those directions wrong.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Zoro grumbled, surly as ever, and as he left the room Nami wasn’t sure if she was glad of that or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 39.5C is just over 103F, which is a pretty nasty fever. I would know, I had to go to school with it once. Not a fun day. Zoro, being a healthy teen, can ride it out easily enough with medicine and bed rest. Sanji, who is half dead of starvation, would not be able to handle it as well.


	10. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 4

The hatch to the crow’s nest opened, and Kyla glanced over to see who it was. At first it looked like Zoro, but as he climbed fully into the room she froze in the middle of a swing. This wasn’t Zoro. This kid was wearing her sensei’s robe, and carrying his swords, but he was not Zoro. He was too young, too scrawny. He had no scar on his chest and when his eye _s_ landed on her there was no recognition in them.

“Who are you?” she pointed both her shinai at him, and made a mental note of how many full swings she’d done. “How did you get sensei’s swords?”

His eyes widened slightly at that, and he touched Wado’s hilt gently. “They’re mine.” he said quietly, disbelievingly. His voice was way too high to be Zoro’s, but it sounded eerily similar regardless. “You’re Kyla, right?”

“Yeah.” she tossed her head, flicking her twists back over her shoulder. “And you’re lying. Those swords belong to Roronoa Zoro, the World’s Greatest Swordsman.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” he pressed a hand to his chest. “Or at least, it will be in nine years.” he glanced down, and a smile crept onto his face. “Doesn’t feel real, though.”

Kyla lowered her wooden blades, but didn’t put them down. “What do you mean, in nine years?”

“Well, Miss Nami said there was a man with a Devil Fruit who turned me and Usopp and captain Luffy younger. And also the blond kid in the infirmary.”

Kyla’s heart leapt in her chest, and she nearly dropped her shinai before tightening her grip almost unbearably. “What happened to him?”

Little Zoro shrugged. “Same as me, I guess, except he’s younger.” he grinned, and sat down on the window bench adjacent to where she meditated. Kyla remained standing, hand curled at her side rather than resting on her swords. “He seems like a good kid.” Little Zoro leaned back against the window, hands in his lap, and the image was so wrong Kyla could hardly believe this was really Zoro.

“If you’re Zoro, prove it by telling me something only Zoro would know.” she crossed her arms, and planted her feet firmly on the floor. “Tell me where you got Wado.”

He met her gaze with a blank, dumbfounded expression. “Huh?”

“Your white sword. Geez, you don’t even know its name?” she scoffed. Sure, she hadn’t known Sengo even was a meito until earlier this year, but she’d won him in a fight. Zoro had gotten Wado from the man who ran the dojo he trained at, so what was his excuse?

“It’s a meito?” he looked down at his swords, and pulled Wado from his sash still in its saya. “Koshiro never said anything.”

“Waiting.” Kyla tapped her foot, and Little Zoro set Wado across his knees.

“Before this sword was mine, it belonged to a girl named Kuina.” Little Zoro’s tone was hushed, and Kyla gripped her elbows as he spoke. “She was a year older than me, Koshiro’s daughter, and the only one I could never beat. She was my rival, and my best friend. When I was ten, we swore together that one of us would become the greatest in the whole world.” he paused, and tightened his grip on the white saya. “The next day, she died. After the funeral, I asked for her sword, and Koshiro allowed me to have it.” he ducked his head, and- Kyla had to look again to make sure but yes, his hands were shaking.

Well, this was definitely Zoro. He’d never told her about the sword’s past before, except a vague reference once to the fact that its previous owner had been a girl, but nothing he’d just said actually conflicted with what she knew.

Kyla hopped up on the bench next to him, set down her shinai on the thin cushion, and wrapped her arms around her teenage sensei. Until Zoro was back, she’d at least have Little Zoro.

\---

Zoro looked over, and smiled slightly at the dark little girl giving him a hug. Something about her, the expression on her face and the way she carried herself, reminded him pretty strongly of Kuina. He hesitantly patted her head, where the hair was pulled into two-strand braids as thick as his thumb, and she released him with a big grin.

“You’re so small.” she placed a hand on top of her head and drew it more or less evenly through the air until it struck his shoulder. “This morning, I only came up to here.” she moved her hand a few inches down.

“Well, I am fifteen.” Zoro pulled the other two swords from the sash around his waist, and propped them up against the edge of the window frame. “And you were measuring yourself against a real adult.”

“You’re so skinny, too.” she poked him in the ribs, and Zoro glared at her. He wasn’t skinny, he was lean. Skinny was like the kids in town who had no interest in fighting. Kyla didn’t seem to notice his look though, because she kept on talking.

“You’re missing your scars.” she said sadly, running a hand across his chest and then dragging a finger over the eye which had been scarred shut in that one newspaper article. “And your hair’s so short!” she lifted both her hands and ran them over his head, ruffling his neatly trimmed hair.

Zoro chuckled, and she quickly sat down at his side again. This girl was cool, and not a bad student if her earlier defensive stance had been any indicator. “Well, I’ve never seen anybody with so many freckles.” he gently poked one on her cheek, and she smiled at him. Even if the rest of the crew had failed to convince him, he was pretty sure this girl would’ve managed it. Or at least convinced him to stay.

“So, what are those for?” he tilted his head towards the massive metal circles mounted in racks along the wall. Most of them were more than twice as wide as he was tall, and the numbers had to be some sort of mistake. Unless the robot worked out?

“Oh, those?” Kyla swung her feet, bouncing her heels against the bottom of the bench. “Those are the weights grown-up Zoro uses when he works out.”

“No way.” he looked from the girl to the massive pieces of metal. Even if he used all his strength, it’d be hard to move the smallest of those.

“Well it’s not like you become the World’s Greatest Swordsman easily.” Kyla’s eyes flicked briefly to his chest, and he pressed a hand where his adult self had a massive scar, trying for a moment to imagine the feel of something that serious under his palm.

“And the chalkboards? What’s on those?” he scanned them briefly. Both were covered in columns of numbers, but the larger board had wider columns to account for the numbers having more digits.

“That’s where we record stuff.” Kyla hopped down and walked over to the smaller board. “I keep track of all my training on here, and sensei Zoro does the same on that one.” she picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote a new number in the third column of the smaller board. Zoro stood, and walked up to get a better look at the large board. If that was the sort of workout he could do in nine years, then suddenly it seemed a lot more plausible he could actually achieve his goal.

“And the candle drippings?” he looked from the window seat next to the one with his sword to Kyla next to him, and found her face darker than before. Was she blushing?

“That's, uh, where I meditate.” she shifted her weight, and curled her left hand into the loops on her haramaki which he supposed were meant to hold her swords. “I’m not good enough yet to do it without a candle.”

“Well, if you could that’d be scary.” he grinned at her. “You’d be the perfect student.”

She went even darker with blush, and he frowned when his eyes landed on the two swords propped up with his. Had he used those three swords to beat Mihawk? The picture and article had been so fuzzy, he could only tell that his white sword had been present. Thankfully the medicine had kicked in halfway up the rigging, so he actually felt sorta normal again.

“When I fought Mihawk.” he said slowly, eyes not leaving his swords. “Did you see it happen?”

“Uh-huh.” Kyla nodded, and when he looked at her properly her eyes were shining. “It was super cool! You did this weird thing, and then you had nine swords and you were going so fast I couldn’t really see what was going on but it was _really cool_.” she clasped her hands together, and that was definitely adoration in her eyes. “And then you won, and now everyone knows that Roronoa Zoro is the best coolest swordsman in all the Blues!”

“Wow.” Zoro wasn’t sure if it was the words themselves of how she delivered them, but his legs had gone a little weak. When he grew up, he achieved his dream. He became the World’s Greatest Swordsman, great enough that his name probably reached all the way to heaven, and he did it under the flag of the Pirate King.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently, Kyla is only 4’2”, or 127cm. Zoro is still taller than her, so his height drop isn’t weirding her out as much as it is the older Straw Hats.


	11. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 5

Kyla collected her swords, and slid them into their loops on her haramaki. Her first sword on top, and Sengo below. She wasn’t going to get much more done with Little Zoro here anyways, so they might as well go down to the deck or something.

“You practice Nitoryu?”

She turned around, and gave the teen a smile and a nod. “Yep. Sensei Zoro’s been teaching me.” she looked down and patted her swords. “I’m not very good at it yet, though.”

“Wouldn’t that be for your sensei to decide?” he frowned at her. Kyla shrugged.

“My grip is still really weak, compared to my Ittoryu technique. In my mastery te-” she stopped mid word, and bit down the urge to curse. “You’re all little.” she groaned, pressing her hands to her face. “How am I gonna take my test tomorrow if you’re not big?”

“I can totally give you a mastery test.” he said quickly. “I’m the youngest Nitoryu master in all of East Blue.”

“Really?” Kyla’s eyebrows raised under her bangs. She’d sorta known that Zoro had started training earlier than her, but to call himself a master at age fifteen? Then again, Roronoa Zoro had always been Roronoa Zoro. It was only to be expected that he break all the records available to him.

“Yeah.” he nodded once, confident. “Koshiro used to test me the same way, until I surpassed him.”

“So you’ll fight me with real swords, then?” she gripped the hilts of her weapons, and Sengo was happy at the prospect of being drawn to fight and draw blood. Little Zoro’s face froze, and emotions flickered over it quickly. She couldn’t name them all, but she recognized fear.

“Why real swords?”

“Because, uh...” she frowned, trying to remember when it had started. Oh, right. “Because when I first got this sword, you said I was only allowed to use it in mastery tests.” she patted her Marine sword, and Little Zoro relaxed a bit.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense.”

“So you’ll test me tomorrow?” she clasped her hands together, and bounced on her toes a little.

“Maybe.” he frowned, and Kyla crossed her arms.

“But you said you _could_.” she settled her weight on her heels and stomped her foot.

“Well, I don’t know how good you are, so it’s not like I could grade you right or anything.” Little Zoro reached up to scratch the back of his head, and looked off the side slightly.

“Then fight me.” Kyla grinned, and leaned forward minutely to balance her weight better. “Spar with me now, and tomorrow you’ll be able to tell if I’ve gotten any better.”

“Do you really think you’ll get noticeably better overnight?” Little Zoro raised an eyebrow in a very familiar expression.

“My grip is a bit different on my real swords, so you can just grade me on that. Like, if I can manage to keep them both in my hands this time.” she chuckled a bit at the memory of her first Nitoryu test, when Zoro had disarmed her more times than she cared to count before she landed her first hit.

“I guess I can do that.” Little Zoro said slowly, glancing over to where his swords were propped up.

“Great!” Kyla drew her real swords from her haramaki, sayas and all, and moved to set them down next to her sensei’s. “Your shinai are under that seat.” she pointed at one of the benches, and took a neutral ready stance as her young teacher fetched the wooden blades.

“These are really heavy for shinai.” he frowned, swinging them in lazy but well-controlled arcs. “What’re they made of?”

“Well, Usopp did ‘em not Franky, so idunno.” Kyla shrugged. She’d never asked how her practice swords were made, and honestly it didn’t seem like a very important thing to know. Certainly less important than how to do knots for rigging and fishing lines and stuff.

“The long nose guy made these?” Little Zoro tilted his head and looked down the length of the dull blade. “Guess he’s not as useless as he looks.”

Well, that was just rude. Kyla frowned, and shifted into an aggressive stance. “Start.” she snapped, and Little Zoro yelped as she slammed her left blade into the side of his head. He lifted his swords to guard, and she chopped at his wrists to disarm him. Her blades rested against the sides of his neck after less than five seconds, and she grinned as sweetly as she could.

“One.” she pulled her left sword away from his neck, and held it horizontally across her body to jab a thumb at her chest. “Zero.” she dragged her right sword down from his neck to rest the tip against the middle of his chest.

He stepped back, and crouched to pick up his swords. “It’s polite to wait for your opponent to be ready before starting a duel.” he grumbled.

“Sorry.” she grinned, not sorry at all. Grown-up Zoro would’ve blocked that strike easily. She’d probably have her easiest test ever tomorrow. “You can call it this time.” she took a few steps back, making some space between them, and fell into a ready stance.

“Gimme a sec.” he frowned, setting his swords back down and yanking at the red sash knotted around his waist. “This thing’s so huge.”

“It does look sorta silly on you now.” she agreed, placing her shinai in the loops of her haramaki and stepping forward to tug at the top of one sleeve. It slid down, and Zoro gave up on the sash in favour of simply pulling his arms out and letting it fall into a puddle around his feet. He looked even smaller without the huge garment, his shoulders narrow and his arms leanly muscled like her own.

“Now we can spar.” he stepped out of the fallen fabric and kicked it over towards the wall.

“That first one still counts.” Kyla said as she backed up again, drawing her swords. Little Zoro scowled, but didn’t object as he picked up his own shinai and assumed an aggressive stance.

“Start.” Little Zoro growled, and Kyla leapt aside of his lunge.

“Too slow.” Kyla teased, snapping her right blade against his bare back. He spun around, and she blocked his slashes with her swords. He pulled away, and she feinted her right blade in a lunge towards his gut. When he moved to parry that, she stepped with the motion of his swords and brought her left blade against his neck hard enough to bruise.

“Two none.” she stepped back as he doubled over, clutching his throat. This was actually pretty fun when it was closer to an even fight. “Come on, Zoro.” she pitched her voice towards a whine. “Sensei has to hold back cuz he’s so crazy strong, but even he fights me harder than this.”

“You’re better than I thought.” he coughed, straightening up. His eyes had gone hard, determined, and a thrill ran through her. “I’m not gonna hold back this time.” he warned, and she nodded.

“I’ll bet my dessert for the week that I can beat you this time too.” she said confidently, lifting her chin as she finished speaking.

“Nah.” Little Zoro shook his head, and got into a ready position. “I don’t like sweets.”

“Dang.” Kyla frowned. Double desserts would’ve been pretty awesome.

“Ready?” Little Zoro inclined his head towards her questioningly, and she nodded.

“Ready.” she confirmed, and lifted her swords defensively as he lunged forward. He was certainly moving faster now, but not as fast as sensei did during her tests. She yielded ground as he continued pressing with his attacks, wincing but not flinching when she failed to block properly and he landed a hit. Which wasn’t as common as usual, since he was slower than she was used to, but the strikes stung a fair bit more. His left blade clipped her elbow when she backed into the benches but she managed to hang onto her sword. He backed out of range when she leapt up, and crossed his swords over his chest in a familiar stance.

“ _Oni Giri_!” he brought his blades down and Kyla jumped as hard as she could, launching herself forwards and up as he sent two slashes of air into the spot she’d just been standing in. The window rattled, but didn’t break.

Little Zoro’s eyes widened as she tucked herself into a front roll, and Kyla couldn’t see too well with her head tucked but she lashed out as she passed over him and the butt of her sword hilt struck something hard. She hit the floor hard, knees knocking into her jaw when she didn’t tumble forwards, but she ignored the ache in favour of whirling to bash her left sword against the backs of Little Zoro’s knees. He staggered, and she shifted her whole weight to her right leg to kick his feet out from under him as he turned to face her.

The green-haired teen went down like Luffy in the ocean, and Kyla’s knees ached as she scrambled to her feet. She planted a foot on his chest, and pressed the tip of her right sword just under his barely-visible adam’s apple. “Three.” she jabbed her left thumb at her chest. “Zero.” she tapped her left sword gently on his forehead, and didn’t bother trying to stop the grin that spread across her face. Winning felt good.

“I yield.” Little Zoro chuckled, letting go of his swords and raising his hands over his head. “You’re really good for your age.”

“I’ve got a good teacher.” Kyla grinned, stepping back and sliding the shinai into the loops on her haramaki so she could offer Little Zoro a hand in getting up. He took it, and she pulled her sensei to his feet. “I should probably write that down.” she glanced at her chalkboard, and her mouth fell open as her brain finally caught up. She’d just beaten Zoro. More than beaten, she’d _trounced_ him! So maybe it wasn’t the Zoro she knew and regularly lost to, but Little Zoro was still Zoro and she’d just **defeated** him!

“Later.” she grinned, rushing over to a window which opened out over the rigging and throwing it open. “Hey!” she leaned out, and noted that most of the adults on deck were clustered near the bow end of the grass deck, closer to the railing she was looking out over. None of them looked up at her shout, and sure she could just pick up the denden mushi and call but this was too _important_ for anything less than face to face. She released the window frame and stepped back to the edge of the seat.

“What are you-” Little Zoro started to ask, and that was all she heard before she leapt out the window.

She caught the rigging twice on her way down, and tumbled to a stop on the grass with all eyes on her. Her legs were splayed out in front of her, and she planted her hands in the grass between them rather than getting up. “I just beat Zoro!” she announced loudly, aware that her grin was almost as wide as Luffy’s.

“No way.” Nami shook her head. “Zoro is in the boys’ room, resting.”

“I did!” she insisted.

“Is that why you’re not wearing a shirt?” the navigator’s eyes narrowed, and the freckled girl hunched her shoulders in a bit, smile fading.

“Kyla!” Little Zoro yelled, only halfway down from the crow’s nest but climbing down fast. He dropped the last five feet or so, and her grin returned in full force as he rushed over. There were already bruises forming on his skin, proof that she wasn’t lying. “What the hell was that?!”

“Shortcut.” she giggled, blood still singing with the joy of having actually solidly _won_ a fight against even a younger version of her sensei. It would take a lot more than a little scolding to end this high.

“Zoro!” Chopper screeched, eyes wide. “You’re supposed to be in bed!”

“Why?” Kyla asked, getting to her feet at the same time as Little Zoro made an offended noise.

“I was _trying_ to find the boys’ room, but Miss Nami gave me pretty vague directions.” he blustered, crossing his arms.

Nami groaned and dragged one hand down her face. “I gave you perfectly clear directions! How the hell did you end up in the crow’s nest?”

“He’s Zoro.” Franky laughed.

“You got lo~st.” Kyla giggled before looking at Chopper again. “But why’s he s’posed to be in bed?”

“Zoro is supposed to be on bed rest until his migraine has cleared up, same as Luffy and Usopp.” Chopper scowled at the younger-than-usual swordsman. “I knew I should’ve used night-time fever medicine.”

“You’re sick?” Kyla frowned up at him. “Is that why you were fighting so bad?”

“I was fighting just as well as ever.” Little Zoro protested, crossing his arms.

“Really? Cuz the Zoro I know never gets that many bruises.” Kyla reached out and poked one of the ones on his forearms, grin diminishing to a small smirk.

“Like I’d take it easy on a curly-browed runt like you.” Little Zoro snapped back, kicking her in the shin without any real force.

Kyla’s mouth froze open, and her eyes widened. Zoro never called her that, ever, and Little Zoro hadn’t even seen her eyebrows. Unless... she lifted a hand, and found her bangs pulled back from her forehead. Her face heated, and she looked down as she hurriedly brushed them back into place. Bits of grass fell to the deck as she combed her fingers through the thick curls, and Zoro started speaking hurriedly as she patted her bangs back into place.

“Shit, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.” he placed a hand on her shoulder, voice low and a bit pleading.

“It’s okay.” she looked up and gave him a small smile. “Just surprised me a bit is all.”

“Good.” he squeezed her shoulder, and dropped his hand.

“Both of you need to go put on a shirt.” Nami huffed.

“And Zoro, you need to get some rest or your body won’t be able to fight off your fever.” Chopper said firmly.

“I’ll get your robe.” Kyla said quickly. “And I’ll bring you some water.” she grinned, clasping her hands and bouncing on her toes.

“Thanks.” Little Zoro smiled, easier and brighter than she could remember ever seeing sensei Zoro doing.

“Alright, alright.” Nami jabbed a finger into Little Zoro’s unscarred chest. “You, follow Franky. He’ll make sure you don’t get lost this time.” she turned and pointed at Kyla’s nose. “And you, need to put on a shirt young lady.”

“Yes, Nami.” Kyla nodded, and gave Little Zoro a quick wave as she jogged over towards the mast and started climbing towards the crow’s nest. She’d have to put away Zoro’s shinai too, but that was fine. She was almost as strong as Little Zoro, and if she trained as hard as he did maybe one day she’d be good enough to beat her sensei for real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually I hate writing fight scenes, but doing the sparring match was actually pretty fun.


	12. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 6

“Pleeeease?” Kyla stretched the word out even longer, her eyes darting from Usopp’s face to the tray in his hands and back again. “I haven’t seen mom since you got back all little.”

“Kyla, you’re supposed to be helping Zoro do the dishes.” the sniper frowned at her.

“I helped make his food, why can’t I be the one to give it to him?” she stomped her foot, hands curling into tight fists at her side. Nobody but Chopper had been allowed into the infirmary since she sparred with Little Zoro, so all she knew was that her mom was even smaller than her sensei now.

“Fine, but you owe me.” Usopp sighed, handing her the tray.

“You can have the last cookie.” Kyla grinned. and turned towards the infirmary door.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Kyla froze, and slowly turned to face Nami in the doorway. “I’m bringing mom the dinner we made him.” she held up the tray, set only with a bowl of soup a spoon and a glass of water.

Nami glared at Usopp, and he held up his hands. “You try saying no to that face.”

The redhead sighed, and crossed the room to crouch in front of Kyla and place a hand on the dark girl’s head. “Sanji won’t remember you. You know that, right?”

Kyla nodded slowly. “He’s little now, like Zoro.”

“Yes.” Nami frowned sternly. “But when Sanji was little he wasn’t very strong, so we can’t explain things to him like we did with Zoro.”

“Okay.” Kyla frowned slightly.

“So no matter what, you have to call him Sanji. You can’t call him mom again until he turns back.”

“Okay.” Kyla nodded, and Nami’s hand lifted from her head. She could do that, treat Little Sanji like anybody else. If he didn’t remember any of them, then she’d get to meet him all over again!

“Alright, now go make sure that little idiot eats his dinner.” Nami stood, and turned Kyla towards the infirmary door.

\---

Kyla shook the shoulder of the blond boy, and her chest tightened at how thin it was, how easily she could see her mom’s bones through the skin. He was wearing one of her shirts, and it looked way too big on him. Somebody had brushed his bangs out of his face, and she giggled a little to see the golden headband holding them back.

“Hey.” she shook his shoulder again, and this time his eyes opened. It was so weird, seeing both of them at once. 

“Are you an angel?” he breathed, nearly inaudible over the sound of Little Zoro and Little Usopp doing the dishes.

“No?” she frowned. Little Sanji didn’t know her, but it wasn’t like she had wings or anything. “I’m Kyla.”

“It’s just, your hair is so pretty.” he sat up and scooted back to sit up against the headboard.

“Well, that just cuz your hair looks like shit.” Kyla set the tray down over his lap, but he didn’t smile at the food. Aw, nuts. That had been the wrong thing to say, hadn’t it? “Sorry. I can tell Chopper after dinner if you want a bath.”

“Yeah.” Little Sanji nodded, and picked up the spoon. Kyla sat down in Chopper’s rolly chair.

“Y’know, I bet Usopp would give you a trim if you asked him.”

“Usopp?” Little Sanji asked between spoonfuls of soup.

“Uh-huh.” Kyla swung her feet. “He trims everyone’s hair when Nami tells him to. Well, everyone’s hair but Brook, cuz Brook’s kinda dead so his hair doesn’t grow.”

Little Sanji finished his soup, then his water, but Kyla didn’t get down from Chopper’s chair. It was nice just to be near her mom, even if he didn’t remember her at the moment.

“I’m done.” he said after a while of comfortable silence, and Kyla startled a bit. Had she been dozing?

“Okay.” she pushed the chair back into place under the desk, and when she reached to take the tray Little Sanji gasped.

“Your arms.”

“Huh?” Kyla looked down at her forearms, illuminated by moonlight and visibly bruised. “Oh, that’s nothing.” she grinned, remembering the heady elation of earlier. “You should see the other guy.”

“Who was it?” Sanji sat up straighter, and Kyla’s eyebrows went up as the sheet fell to puddle in his lap. He was wearing a haramaki.

“Zoro.” she smiled harder. “You should’ve seen it. I actually beat him! Really, properly beat him. Three times!” she held up three fingers, but her smile vanished as she caught sight of Little Sanji’s face. He looked furious, the same sort of expression she’d seen the few times bounty hunters tried to take her.

“Y’know, these really are nothing.” she grabbed his wrist, and pressed his hand to the fairly impressive bruise on her right elbow. About half of it was probably from hitting the deck, honestly, but he didn’t need to know that just yet.

“You’re hurt, though.” Little Sanji’s hand stayed where it was, and she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“When I lose, it’s way worse.” she reached out and pulled at his haramaki, blue with white swirls to match his eyes and eyebrows. “Is this yours?”

Little Sanji frowned, and looked down at the garment as if it had done him some personal offense. “No, but Doctor Chopper told me to keep it on.” he looked up and pointed at her. “How come you’ve got one?”

“To hold my swords.” she answered immediately, twisting so Little Sanji could see the twin loops over her right hip. “And it’s really warm.” she patted the soft fabric with a smile.

“Mine doesn’t have those.” Little Sanji frowned, running his hands around his haramaki.

“Nami doesn’t really like spending lots of money.” Kyla shrugged. “Guess she figured a shinai loop would be a waste of a few hundred beri.”

“Miss Nami is so smart.” the blond beamed, dopey and familiar. Kyla giggled.

“You’re silly.”

“What?” Little Sanji frowned. “Miss Nami _is_ smart. And really pretty too!”

“Whatever.” Kyla shrugged. “Do you still want me to get Chopper?”

Little Sanji frowned for a second, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. Thanks, Kyla.” he smiled, wide and bright and stupid. It was one of the realest smiles she’d ever seen on his face.

Kyla grabbed the tray, mumbled “I’mmagetChopper” halfway under her breath, and went into the kitchen. Seeing her mom as a kid was so weird. He looked vulnerable, like he belonged on a peaceful island rather than in their life of adventures, and she really wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haramaki do actually help keep you warm, but tbh Nami got one for Little Sanji simply for the blackmail value. With Zoro wearing his pre-timeskip outfit, Kyla dressed like a mini Zoro, and Sanji wearing Kyla’s clothes, the three of them match. Pictures will surely be taken. I may even draw one or two of them once NaNoWriMo is over.


	13. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 7

Kyla lowered her swords, shoulders screaming, and the “hehihihi” which slipped out of her was ever so slightly raspy. That mastery test had been one of her longest yet, almost an even fight compared to every other one she’d had. Zoro was even breathing hard, the scratch along his forehead leaking blood into his right eye, and his grin was just a tad demonic.

“A plus.” he chuckled, sheathing Wado and Kietetsu. “You’re damn good at this.”

Kyla giggled again, her voice still a bit hoarse from the nearly nonstop banter they’d kept going through the whole test, and settled her own blades in their sayas. “Well, I _am_ learning from the best.” her left shoulder twinged, more than just the usual muscle ache from swinging around a length of metal for several minutes, and Kyla wasn’t surprised when her fingers found a gash and came away red with blood. They were, after all, using real swords.

“Chopper’s probably waiting in the infirmary with bandages already.” she grinned, glancing down and wincing at the blood on her haramaki. That was always a pain to get out.

“Sorry about your shoulder.” Zoro gestured to it as Kyla lead him around to the infirmary door.

“It’s okay.” Kyla shrugged, and immediately winced. Okay, shrugging was a bad idea. How had she not noticed this earlier? Right, shock. Or adrenaline, she was never sure which. Zoro opened the door to the infirmary, and sure enough Chopper was standing there with a roll of bandages already in his hands.

“Shirts and haramaki in the bowl.” he said as soon as she was in the room. “Zoro, you can put your swords with Kyla’s.”

Kyla leaned her swords up against the desk, and removed her bloodiest articles of clothing. Robin and Usopp would be pretty upset about the amount of damage they’d done this time, but it couldn’t really be helped. Nami had forbade her to take her mastery tests shirtless after the first time, and even without the shirts there would still be their haramaki to patch up.

“Foot of the bed, both of you.” the reindeer ordered once their bloody clothing was soaking in a mix of cold water and hydro-oxy whatever.

Kyla nodded, and obediently sat by Little Sanji’s feet. The blond looked like he was still napping, which wasn’t really surprising when she remembered how many sandwiches he’d eaten at lunch, so Kyla did her best not to jostle him. Then Little Zoro sat down heavily enough to make her bounce a bit off the mattress, and Little Sanji bolted awake with a yelp. Blue eyes focused on her immediately, and Little Sanji went red.

“Sorry.” he squeaked, throwing his hands over his eyes.

“What for?” Kyla frowned as Chopper pressed a wet cloth into Little Zoro’s hands and began cleaning the blood off of her skin. The cut on her shoulder was starting to really hurt now, but she did her best to ignore it.

“Boys aren’t supposed to see girls shirtless.” Little Sanji said quickly.

“That’s dumb.” Kyla winced as Chopper passed over a long scrape down her right bicep. “My top bits look just like yours.”

“Aack!” Chopper dropped the cloth, and gave Kyla a look of wide-eyed fear. “What happened to your shoulder?”

“You’re hurt?” Little Sanji crossed his legs and sat forward, opening his visible eye slightly.

“My mastery test.” Kyla answered both of them, and shrugged the shoulder which didn’t have two little hooves pressing down on it.

“This is going to need stitches!” Chopper hopped down off the bed, and rushed over to where he kept the more commonly used medical supplies. Kyla turned to watch him pull out several things, and Little Sanji made a strangled sound.

“Who did that?” he reached out, but stopped just short of actually touching her shoulder.

“I did.” Little Zoro sounded almost regretful, which was a weird tone to hear coming from him. Sensei never really felt bad about how beat up she got when she threw herself into battle against him, at least not that she could tell. He just used the cuts and scrapes to point out how she could improve her form and technique, like any good teacher would.

“Marimo asshole!” Little Sanji was on his feet in a flash, swaying slightly with the motion of the ship, his hands balled into tight bony fists. “I’m gonna kill you!”

“Sit down.” Chopper said in his most intimidating doctor voice, the one he used to make Luffy and Zoro listen when he was being super super serious. “You’ll be doing no such thing.” he had turned into his Heavy Point, and Kyla tilted her head away from her injured shoulder as he began daubing the wound with antiseptic and some stuff to make it go all tingly numb so she wouldn’t have to feel the stitches going in.

“It’s okay, Sanji.” she smiled, resolutely not looking as Chopper started drawing her shoulder back together. Seeing the needle and thread going through her without being able to feel it always made her stomach do flip flops. “Usually I come out of my mastery tests looking a lot worse.”

“What even _is_ a mastery test?”

“What does it sound like?” Little Zoro scoffed.

“It sounds like a really bad idea.” Little Sanji spat back. “Why would you ever hurt someone as sweet and pretty as Kyla?”

“So he can know how good I am.” Kyla interjected before the pair could get into an argument. “It’s one thing to spar with shinai, but it’s hard for sensei to tell how good I really am if we don’t use real swords.” she gestured to her torso, which was largely untouched this time. “And look at me, I’m barely hurt compared to last month.”

“You do this every month?” Sanji’s mouth fell open.

“You are _definitely_ hurt compared to last month, Kyla.” Chopper scolded. “You didn’t get hit as much, but almost all of them are worse injuries. Why weren’t you pulling your punches?” he snapped the last sentence at Little Zoro, and the older swordsman made a noncommittal noise.

“Zoro!” Chopper paused, Kyla could feel his hands stop moving though she didn’t dare look to see how done he was. “Just an inch over and this would’ve severed her carotid! As is, it’s going to scar.” his tone was scolding, and Kyla’s eyes widened.

“Which is why I didn’t aim for her neck.” Little Zoro retorted almost petulantly. “I’m no killer.”

“Scar? Really?” Kyla looked up and left, over Chopper’s arms, and a huge stupid grin spread across her face as she met Little Zoro’s eyes. “Cool! I’m gonna have a scar from the World’s Greatest Swordsman.”

“It’s still weird, being called that.” the older swordsman chuckled, holding the damp towel over the long cut she’d made on his forehead.

“Yeah, I bet it’s real weird.” Little Sanji grumbled, sitting back against the headboard. “You’re a walking marimo, what’s not weird about that?”

“Oi, what’d you call me twig-boy?” Little Zoro snarled, but with Chopper’s Heavy Point still hover over Kyla’s shoulder he couldn’t really so anything more than that.

“I called a marimo a marimo. Or would you rather I call you moss head. How about moss-brains?” Little Sanji jeered, looking pretty damn smug.

Kyla sighed as Chopper finished stitching her up. Really, she should’ve known better than to hope the two of them would be able to get along now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The “hydro-oxy whatever” that Kyla mentions is hydrogen peroxide. It’s super helpful for getting bloodstains out of fabric.


	14. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 8

In the week which followed, Kyla found herself spending a lot of time in the infirmary. Not because she was sick or kept getting hurt, but because Chopper refused to let Little Sanji out of bed for more than a few minutes at a time. So Kyla sat with him while he ate his special-made meals, and kept him company when she wasn’t training or helping out. He had plenty of stories about the ship he’d worked on as a dishwasher, a big cruise liner called The Orbit, and in return Kyla retold stories Usopp had spun.

Little Sanji was easy to be around, and spending time with him was somehow fun despite the fact that he wasn’t allowed out of bed so all they could do was talk. And when Chopper finally agreed to let Little Sanji come outside, Kyla managed to get Little Zoro to agree to spar with her on the grass deck. Little Zoro won, but not without a fight, and Little Sanji didn’t stomp over screaming until her teenage sensei had lowered his shinai. Little Zoro rose to the bait, and Kyla giggled a bit as Little Sanji leaned on her for support. Luffy and Usopp, fishing over the railing, were fully laughing as the pair argued.

That night Kyla helped Nami make a single meal for everyone, and Little Sanji sat between Luffy and Little Zoro during dinner. Things became routine again, with the exception of who made the meals, and as Little Sanji was allowed more and more time out of bed Kyla began to show him around the ship. The weights she trained with in the crow’s nest, the smallest of which he needed both hands to lift. Usopp and Franky’s workspaces on the lower decks, full of cool things they weren’t allowed to touch without asking first. The little table tucked up in Nami’s mikan grove, with its chairs that always wobbled just a little bit no matter how much Franky tried to fix them. The firing room for the Gaon cannon, which smelled like metal and dust and she’d been very strictly prohibited from rough-housing in by both Franky and Usopp.

She taught Little Sanji how to swing without being pushed, something he’d never learnt growing up at sea, and tree-climbing would’ve followed but he was still too weak. In return, he taught her the names of the constellations they could see from the rear deck, and all the North Blue stories of how they came to be. He helped her reach the candy they’d bought together at the island before Trident, and Chopper yelled at both of them for eating the whole bag but Little Sanji held out the last handful and the reindeer allowed himself to be placated.

But even though he was getting better, and Chopper was letting him be out of bed for longer periods of time, Little Sanji still got tired really fast. So obviously, the best thing to do was teach him how to do something that didn’t involve lots of standing up or running around. And on a ship like the Thousand Sunny, there were two things Kyla could think of which fit the bill. Reading, which was boring, or meditation, which actually did useful stuff like help clear her head.

It was, harder than she’d expected. Little Sanji was terrible as staying still, and Chopper insisted that any lit candles had to be placed on the floor so they couldn’t even stay on the bed while she tried to explain how meditating worked. After three solid hours of no success, she was almost ready to pull her hair out. Had it been this hard for Zoro to teach her?

The thought that she could ask Zoro for help occurred to her after Sanji sneezed and accidentally blew out the candle. But no, that’d never work. Not only was her sensei little now, but Little Sanji hated Little Zoro. And not like her mom and sensei usually claimed to hate each other, where it was actually some weird sort of fighty friendship, but real genuine spite. Kyla sighed, and picked the candle up rather than relighting it. Asking Little Zoro to help Little Sanji meditate would end with Robin or Nami chastising all three of them for turning the infirmary upside down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, Sanji is currently 4’7” (140cm) to Kyla’s 4'2" (127cm). Kyla is on the short end of average height for a ten year old girl, Sanji is perfectly average height for a ten year old boy.


	15. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 9

“You’re pretty good at this.” Usopp remarked. Kyla finished wiping off another dish, and set it on the counter with the rest.

“I like helping with the dishes.” she smiled up at the sniper. He was a bit shorter and a lot scrawnier than he’d been before going out on Trident two weeks ago, but he was definitely still Usopp. Just like Luffy was still Luffy, despite not remembering anything from the last three years or so. She dried a glass, and set it upside down with one edge propped on the lip of the sink. The door to the deck opened, and Kyla glanced over her shoulder to see Little Zoro shuffle in. He was dripping wet, his footsteps sorta squelching, and she went back to drying dishes. With the rain pounding on the grassy roof and against the wall, and Usopp humming a familiar song, and Little Sanji arguing with Little Zoro over something stupid, Kyla could almost forget that her mom and sensei and captain didn’t even know who she was like they should.

The door slammed open, and Kyla didn’t even have to look to know it was Luffy. The captain had a certain presence, and losing three years hadn’t changed that fact a bit.

“Luffy!” Usopp scolded, stopping mid-verse. “It was supposed to be your turn to dry the dishes tonight.”

“But Kyla said she _liked_ doing dishes.” Luffy whined.

“Zoro and I were gonna spar, though.” she huffed, picking up another plate and turning around as she dried it.

“You were gonna hit her again?” Little Sanji was on his feet in a flash, standing on his chair to be taller than Zoro. “Shitty marimo bastard!” he drew his arm back, and Kyla’s mouth fell open as the young chef drove his bony fist into Little Zoro’s face. There was a crash, and she looked down to see that the plate in her hands had slipped free and fallen and shattered.

Luffy’s jaw was literally on the floor, and Usopp’s would’ve been as well if he’d been made of rubber. Little Sanji, the younger version of the Sanji she knew and loved, had just punched somebody. She knew what she was seeing, Little Sanji swearing and shaking his hand, Little Zoro rubbing his cheek and taunting that it didn’t even hurt, but it didn’t add up. Sanji, _punched_ somebody? But, Sanji never hit people with his hands. His hands were for cooking, for taking care of his nakama, not for hurting anyone.

Luffy’s jaw closed with a rubbery snap, then opened again to a more normal degree. “Wh-”

In an instant, Kyla knew what was about to happen. Luffy would say something careless, Usopp would try to lie to cover it up, and Sanji would find out that he was missing fourteen years of his life. And then he’d get sick, and if Chopper was right- and Chopper was always right about stuff like this- the fever would kill him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you could fight?” Kyla blurted, cutting off her captain and stepping towards the table. “C’mon, let’s go, you and me, right now.” she raised her hands in fists, and gave her best fake smile.

Little Sanji balked, and shook his head. “No way!”

“I’ll go easy on you.” Kyla cajoled, shifting her weight from leg to leg.

“Nuh-uh.” Little Sanji shook his head again, this time more resolutely, and lowered himself to actually sit in his chair. “I don’t hit girls.”

“You know I can take anything you dish out.” Kyla lowered her hands but didn’t unclench them, instead resting them knuckles-first on her hips. “Zoro’s way bigger and stronger than you, and we spar all the time.”

Little Sanji crossed his arms. “Yeah, but I’m not gonna hit you. Mom said boys shouldn’t hit girls, ever.”

Kyla huffed, unclenched her fists, and crossed her arms. “That’s a dumb rule. What if a girl hits you first?”

“Ask her nicely to stop.” Sanji replied immediately.

“Alright, alright.” Usopp stepped between them, one hand full of broken plate bits. “Kyla, Sanji’s not strong enough right now to fight you anyways.” he placed his empty hand on her shoulder, and she let him turn her around. “C’mon, we’ve still got the rest of the dishes to do.”

“Can’t Luffy do ‘em?” Kyla whined. Doing dishes with mom was fun, but doing them with Usopp was kinda boring.

“Well, then you’d have to be on Luffy duty.” Usopp dumped the shards in his hand into a towel, and set that on the counter where it wouldn’t fall off easily.

“Uuugh.” Kyla groaned, and picked the drying towel up again. “Fine.”

\---

“Hey, Kyla?”

Kyla looked up from the list of math problems Nami had given her to do. Little Sanji was lying on the floor, a big book of fairy tales open in front of him. “What?” she responded after a moment, looking around. Nami had left after setting down the worksheet, and given orders that Kyla was to hand it back as soon as she was done.

“How come the captain was so surprised earlier?” he looked right at her, familiar eyes wide and questioning, and her stomach twisted up in knots. She couldn’t tell him the truth, or Chopper had said he might die. But he was looking at her like she knew all the answers, and as unsettling as that look was she couldn’t very well say no to her mom, even if he was just a little kid right now.

She moved her pencil down a few lines, and scribbled a few short sentences out on the page. Little Sanji said nothing, and after a moment she set the utensil down. “Mom.” she looked back at him. He was sitting up now, legs crossed and hands gripping his ankles. “You look a bit like my mom.” she smiled, not bothering to make it look bright or happy. “He’s a cook too, and he hates Zoro’s guts, but he never ever punches people. His hands are meant for making food, or something like that.” she chuckled, and drew a knee up to her chest. “So when Luffy saw you hit Zoro, I guess he saw mom too,”

“Oh.” Little Sanji looked at the floor, and frowned. “Your mom is a boy?”

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded, chin bumping her knee. “He adopted me, and said I could call him anything I wanted.”

“Makes more sense than fighting without using your hands.” Sanji’s mouth twisted down further in obvious confusion. “How’s he do it?”

“He kicks.” Kyla grinned, ducking her head against her folded leg. “When he found me, he threatened to kick Luffy right overboard if I couldn’t stay.”

“Your mom sounds awesome.” Sanji smiled a bit, soft and small and achingly sad. “Where is he now?”

“With Zeff.” she glanced at the notes she’d jotted down. “The ship that took him didn’t have a good cook, so mom went with them.”

“I bet you miss him.”

“Lots.” Kyla swallowed past the lump in her throat, and resolutely blinked back tears. Swordsmen didn’t cry.

“I miss mine.”

“What’s she like?” Kyla pulled her other leg up to her chest as well, and wrapped her arms around them.

“She was the nicest person in the world. Even when she got sick, she was always smiling and helping people.” Little Sanji’s voice shook, and he uncrossed his legs so he could hug them to his chest. “She was so pretty, too. The prettiest lady in all the Blues. And she always said-” his voice broke with a sob, and Kyla set her feet back on the floor. “Dreams and love are the two things everyone needs to live. So long as you’ve got those, you can find a way to survive anything.”

Tears started rolling down his cheeks, and Kyla padded over to sit next to him. Little Sanji leaned against her, and she put her arms around him as best she could. It was weird to be comforting her mom like this, but at the same time it felt right. Sanji wasn’t himself right now, just a kid her age who wanted his mom back, and she knew the feeling.

“It’s okay.” she hugged him tight, and he pressed his face into her shoulder. “You’ve got both of those, so you’ll be okay.”

“But Zeff won’t be.” Little Sanji gripped the back of her shirt. “He gave up his dream to save me.”

Kyla opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of anything to say to that.

“We were stuck on that rock for months, and he gave me all the food. All of it.” Little Sanji hiccuped, and Kyla hugged him tighter. “He- he cut off his leg. He cut off his leg so I would have enough food to live until we were rescued.”

Kyla tightened her arms around his chest almost enough to bruise. “But he’s alive.” she said firmly. “You’re both alive. Zeff can find a new dream, or you can fulfill his for him.” she loosened her grip slightly, and Little Sanji pulled away to meet her gaze with wet eyes.

“You really think so?”

“I know so.” Kyla nodded once, recalling how mom had talked about Zeff being a terrible teacher. The old geezer was still alive, somewhere in East Blue, but she couldn’t tell Little Sanji that.

Little Sanji sniffled, and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Sorry.” he smiled, wobbly but genuine. “I’m okay now.”

“Are you good at numbers?” Kyla stood and fetched her worksheet, taking a moment to erase the words she’d written a few minutes ago.

“Uh, I guess?” Little Sanji sat up straighter.

“Nami wants me to write out the answers to these questions, but I’m kinda stuck on this one.” she tapped the pencil’s eraser against the paper, and Sanji frowned at it a little.

“Why are there letters?”

“Because Nami put letters?” Kyla frowned back. What sort of question was that?

“I mean, what’s this stuff for? Are you gonna be an architect?”

“Oh.” Kyla shook her head. “Nami says everyone should know how to do interest an’ stuff, so this is to help me learn that.”

“Well, this isn’t the sorta math I learnt, but if you explain it out I bet you’ll figure out the answer.” he smiled, soft and warm and comforting and just exactly the same as he always smiled when she was upset.

Kyla grinned back, and laid down on the floor so she wouldn’t be hunched over her paper. Little Sanji was really different from normal Sanji, but it wasn’t all bad different.


	16. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 10

When Robin and Brook returned from Pipesk Island, Kyla sat on the railing and swung her feet as Nami gave the adults their spending money for the day. With mom in his current condition, and the island judged safe enough to stay longer than it took the pose to reset, the freckled girl had high hopes she'd get to go ashore and help the navigator shop for groceries. Sure enough, as soon as the majority of the crew had dispersed down the dock, Nami went and fetched the cart they used for grocery shopping.

"I can come, right?" Kyla asked hopefully, stilling her feet to cross them at the ankle.

Nami smiled sweetly, and Chopper went Heavy Point to get the cart down to the pier. "Of course."

"Um, excuse me miss Nami, but could I come too?"

Kyla turned her head, and saw Little Sanji standing in the kitchen doorway. Her face immediately split with a smile, and she hopped off the railing to jog over to the blond's side. "Yeah, can he? Pleeease?" whining never worked on Nami, but occasionally being extra polite did the trick.

Nami frowned, but after a moment it turned into a sweet grin. “So long as you both keep up with me, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“If we can’t, do we get to ride in the cart?” Kyla rocked from heel to toe eagerly.

“Sanji can, because he’s still recovering, but I’m not pulling you around.” Nami swung a leg over the ladder, and Kyla grabbed Sanji by the wrist to drag him along.

“You’re lucky.” she said to him, realizing that her mom wouldn’t comprehend the significance of their navigator’s agreement. “Nami never lets anyone ride in the cart. Not even Chopper.”

The blond blushed, and once everyone was safely off the boat Kyla grabbed him by the hand. His eyes widened at that, and his mouth fell open.

“Now you won’t get lost.” Kyla beamed, giving her mom’s hand a tug as she started after Nami.

“But,” Little Sanji started, his face crumpling into a cuter version of his usual confused scowl. “Girls and boys are only supposed to hold hands if they _like_ like each other.”

Kyla rolled her eyes, and jogged a little to catch up to Nami. “Nuh-uh.” she shook her head once they were following on the redhead’s heels. “Best friends hold hands too. It’s fun.” she squeezed Little Sanji’s hand, and his face lit up with a blush.

“Not in North Blue they don’t.” he said hurriedly, but he didn’t try to remove himself from her grip. “All the girls and boys I’ve seen hold hands are in _love_.” he stressed the last word, and Kyla giggled.

“Well, I don’t think I _love_ love you.” she grinned wide, and walked right into the back of Nami’s legs.

“Sorry.” Little Sanji said quickly, and Kyla took a step back.

“I swear, you’re going to walk right off the ship one of these days.” Nami muttered, placing a hand on Kyla’s head and looking back to the man in the fruit stand. “Seventy percent.”

“Eighty.”

“Sixty five.”

“What’s she doing?” Sanji whispered, barely audible over the ambient noise of the street.

“Nami’s haggling.” Kyla responded in like volume. “She once got me new shoes for ten percent of the price tag.”

“Wow.” Little Sanji’s grin was familiar, huge and dopey to match his starry eyes. “That’s amazing.”

Kyla shrugged, and scuffed one heel against the ground. “It’s Nami.”

Little Sanji’s eyes only got wider as they continued through the market, and Kyla found herself tugging him back towards Nami more often than simply following the navigator. Honestly, she still sorta expected her mom to act more grown-up than her even now they were the same age.

“C’mon, we’re gonna lose her.” she said insistently, pulling Little Sanji away from a stall selling funky shaped root vegetables.

“This one looks like the World Government flag!” he held up a yam of some sort which formed a rough cross with bulbous ends.

“Ew.” she wrinkled her nose, and tugged on his hand harder. “C’mon, if we get separated Nami’s gonna be so mad when she finds us again.”

“Okay.” Little Sanji set the yam back down and turned to follow Kyla.

She looked down the street, and her heart sank. Nami’s brilliant orange hair had vanished in the crowd. “Aaand, we’re screwed.” she muttered, free hand drifting towards her swords.

“Did you see which way she went?” Little Sanji asked, stepping closer so their shoulders almost touched.

“No, I was looking at a World Government yam.”

“Boniato.” Little Sanji supplied.

“Whatever.” Kyla scowled at the spot where she’d last seen Nami. “I bet she just kept going straight.”the freckled girl said after a moment of thought. “It’d be hard to turn the cart in a crowd like this, so if we stay on this street we should be able to catch up to her.” she nodded once, like Usopp did when he was pretending he knew what he was talking about, and Little Sanji smiled.

“You’re smart _and_ pretty.”

“And strong, too.” Kyla grinned back, one hand staying on her swords as she pulled her mom back out into the flow of people. “I’m gonna grow up to be as strong as Zoro.”

Little Sanji grumbled something at the swordsman’s name, and Kyla gripped his hand tighter. “You watch the stalls on the left, I’ll watch the ones on the right.”

“Wouldn’t want to miss her.” the blond agreed, squeezing back.

The pair hurried down the bustling street, and Kyla only had to pull her mom away from vendor stalls twice before they reached the end of the market. Without finding Nami. The sun had passed its high point sometime during their slog through the crush of shoppers, and now shadows were slowly growing longer. Little Sanji’s face crumpled when he realized they’d obviously gone the wrong way, and his hand pulled out of Kyla’s as he sat heavily in a deeply recessed doorway.

“We can go back to the Sunny.” Kyla said after a moment, sitting down next to him. “It’s not like they’d leave without us.”

“You said Nami would be mad we got lost.”

Kyla had never heard her mom sound so defeated. It was weird, and not in a fun way like fighting with Little Zoro. “Yeah.” she slumped slightly, left hand tightening on Sengo’s hilt. “So mad.”

"Well well well."

Kyla's head snapped up, and her heart started racing at the sight of three huge men blocking the exit to the street.

"Look what's delivered itself to our doorstep."

"Sorry." Kyla said quickly, grabbing Little Sanji's hand and pulling him to his feet as she stood. "We'll get out of your way." she tried to edge past the one in the middle, and his hand clamped down hard on her shoulder.

"Now why would we let Black Leg's brat out from under our noses?"

Her blood ran cold. It had been years since somebody last recognized her from that old bounty poster. Of all the times for them to run into bounty hunters it had to be now, when her mom was too weak to defend himself or even know who he was to all of them.

"Leave her alone." Little Sanji spat, tugging on her hand. "We've got nothing to do with those filthy pirates."

One of the other men cuffed Little Sanji on the chin, and Kyla heard his teeth clack together. "What's this, a brother?" the man mused, crouching to flick the blond's fringe out of his face. "He's got the same dumb eyebrows, boss."

Kyla saw red. "Let go!" she yelled, pulling out both her swords and swinging for the man holding her. His hand lifted from her shoulder, and she lunged at the one crouched over Little Sanji with her fiercest battle cry. A large sword blocked both of hers before they reached their target, and she looked up to see the third man's fist coming right at her.

\---

Kyla bolted upright, hands tightening on air. Her swords. Those _bastards_ had taken her swords!

"You're awake!" Little Sanji cried, throwing his arms around her, and Kyla returned the hug tightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, shifting to kneel when he released her.

"Yeah." he sat back and crossed his legs. "I was just tired from all that walking is all." he smiled reassuringly, and patted his knee. "Still not back to a hundred percent."

"If you'd said you were tired, we coulda found somewhere to sit." Kyla frowned.

Little Sanji shrugged. "I wanted to stop being lost first."

Kyla had no response to that, so she simply curled her left hand in the loops of her haramaki and gripped them tight. "What time is it?"

"Dunno." Sanji bounced one of his legs so his knee tapped against the floor. "But you were out for a long time. It felt like _hours_."

"Then the Straw Hats are looking for us." Kyla nodded confidently. "So long as we stay put, they'll come get us. Probably before dinner even."

"I hope they get here before those shitty jerks get back." Little Sanji grumbled. "I don't wanna know if the Marines would pay for me."

"What?" Kyla's face scrunched in confusion. "Why would anyone do that?"

"They think I'm your brother." he addressed his knees. "It's 'cause we've both got these stupid eyebrows." Sanji squeezed his eyes shut, and dragged a hand across them.

He was right though, Kyla realized. As small as he was, Little Sanji could be mistaken for being his own son. Despite herself, she giggled at the thought. At least his bounty poster would have a decent picture. The mental image of his reaction to that when he turned back sent her into full on laughter, and Little Sanji gave her a curious look.

"Is it that funny?" his tone was petulant, and for some reason that made her laugh even harder.

She shook her head, and pressed both hands to her mouth to stifle the sound. In for eleven, out for seven. That fell apart pretty quick, but it did succeed in quieting her back down to uncontrollable giggles. "Sorry." she managed an apologetic grin, then closed her eyes and tried breathing deeply again. This time it worked, and when she opened her eyes the urge to laugh had vanished.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Little Sanji scooted forward and gently touched the bit of forehead which was probably bruised something awful under her bangs.

"Yeah." she tapped next to his hand, and didn't even wince as her finger stabbed into the tender bruise. "I've had worse." she moved her hand down to pat her scar, and Little Sanji's face curled into his familiar 'idiot marimo' scowl.

"It'll be okay." she folded her hands in her lap, and took a deep breath. "Luffy is an idiot, but he protects his nakama." she smiled, and found it was much easier than it had been earlier. "No self-respecting pirate would leave their treasure behind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy tits i completely blanked on today being a monday o_o*
> 
> As for the mention of Sanji's bounty poster... his new poster from chapter 801 may be a vast improvement over his first, but it's still an awful shot.


	17. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 11

"Good news, brats."

Sanji lifted his head from his knees, and glowered at the hulking brute of a man who'd grabbed Kyla earlier. The girl may have been a pirate, but that didn't make her any less deserving of adoration.

"I doubt that." she shot back, left hand curling briefly where her swords usually hung before falling back to her side in a trembling fist.

"Boss figures we're not turning you in tonight. Why settle for some small fry when they make such good bait for the real catch, y'know?" he leered, and Sanji shot to his feet as the goon leaned over Kyla. Kyla, who hadn't given an inch and was now trembling in something between fear and rage.

"Don't touch her." he blurted, running up and sidestepping around Kyla to place himself as a shield in front of the swordswoman. "Or I'll- I'll kill you!" he held his arms out wide, and glared at the adult.

"Oh, really?" the man laughed. "I doubt you could kill a rabbit with hands like that."

"Maybe he can't," Kyla snarled, and Sanji staggered as she pulled him backward to reverse their positions. "But if you hurt either one of us you'll be answering to Straw Hat Luffy and his crew."

The man laughed, and turned back to the door. "If that idiot can best my boss, I'll eat my socks."

Kyla screamed something inarticulate, and launched herself gracefully at the goon's back. He spun faster than Sanji's eyes could track, and the blonde found himself flat on his back before his brain had processed what was happening. When it did though, he went red with rage. The bastard had done it again! Only this time he'd hit Kyla so hard she flew backwards into him and sent them both skidding along the ratty carpet into the wall.

Kyla regained her feet first, and launched herself at the door which was once more soundly locked. Sanji sat up slower, and pressed a hand gingerly to the rug burns which ran down the backs of his arms from sleeve cuff to elbow. It hurt, but after a blow like that Kyla had to be in agony. He looked up, and saw she was still slamming her fists into the door.

"Kyla." he got to his feet and crossed the small room to lay a hand on her left shoulder, careful not to press on her scar. "Stop, you're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'll kill them!" she screamed, elbow nearly catching him in the face as she drew back to punch the wood.

"Kyla." Sanji's chest tightened, and her wrapped his arms around her ribcage. "Please, stop."

"I can't let him get away with that." she growled. "He was badmouthing Luffy." her arms dropped to her sides though, and Sanji gripped her tighter.

"We need to get out of here." he whispered, halfway a sob. "Before that shithead hurts you any worse."

The tension seemed to leave her at that, and she collapsed to the floor in a kneeling position which left her butt on the floor and her heels out to the sides. "I want my mom." she whispered brokenly, and the blond hugger her harder.

"Me too." he sniffled, trying not to get snot on her shirt. "I miss her lots." tears welled in his eyes, and he blinked hard. As a boy, it was his duty to be strong and help girls who were crying. "That's why we need to make a plan."

Kyla sniffled, and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Her breathing went weird for a few seconds, like when she’d been trying to stop laughing earlier, then she sighed and leaned into his embrace. "Breaking down the door is out of the question." she said tiredly.

Sanji chuckled, and let go when she made to sit up straighter. "Maybe we could knock out the hinge pins with something. I think I read that in a book once."

“They’re on the other side of the door.” Kyla pointed out, and he ducked his head.

“Okay, maybe not that, but you’re really smart so if we work together we’ll definitely come up with something.” he gave her his best reassuring smile, and got a weak grin in return.

“You’re silly, you know that?” Kyla shook her head, but tucked her legs under her body so she was properly kneeling. “Step one, we gotta get out of this room.”

\---

Kyla wasn’t sure when she’d fallen asleep, but she obviously had because now she was waking up. Little Sanji was still out cold, his head pillowed on her stomach, and she carefully shifted him so he was lying on the floor. Her stomach growled, and Little Sanji whimpered in his sleep, skinny arms going to press against his own torso. His face smoothed out after a moment though, and he reached out to grab her hand without opening his eyes. Mom really was still mom, even when he was super little.

They’d managed to come up with a plan last night, now all that remained was to put it in action. And for that, Little Sanji would have to be awake. Kyla’s stomach growled again, and his grip on her hand tightened. It would be really mean to wake him up now. He was still getting better from three months of starving, and their captors hadn’t brought them breakfast yet. But what if they weren’t given breakfast at all? It could be lunch time already and they’d never know, not in this windowless room.

“Sanji.” Kyla shook his shoulder with her free hand, and he blinked awake.

“Whuzzit?” he mumbled, sitting up and yawning.

“We’re escaping today, remember?” she squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back with a nod. The first part was simple, but hinged on the assumption that their captors would be taking decent care of them. Kyla got to her feet, and went to stand on the hinge side of the door. Their cell was empty of anything which could be turned into a weapon, so she’d have to rely on brute force.

“Hey!” Little Sanji yelled, going over to the door and banging his fists on the wood. “Heeeey! Is anybody awake?” there was a loud click, and Little Sanji stepped back as the door opened into the room.

“What’re you yapping about?” it was the man who’d grabbed Little Sanji yesterday, and Kyla thought that added a bit of believability to the way the blond’s legs shook as he backed away from him. The reek of alcohol didn’t hurt either, nor did the fact that the brute was pretty visibly hungover.

“I gotta go pee.” Little Sanji said in a small, embarrassed voice.

Kyla got behind the guy, and as he bent over to glower in Little Sanji’s face she leapt. He wasn’t really that tall, compared to Franky and Brook, and she easily got her arms around his fat neck. A fist to the adam’s apple rendered him voiceless, and she cinched her arms as tight as she could. The brute fell to his knees, and made the most pathetic noise she’d ever heard from a grown man when Sanji hit him between the legs. Kyla counted almost to forty before the man slumped forward, unconscious, and she leapt to her feet.

“Let’s go.” she whispered, holding out a hand. Little Sanji took it without hesitation, and she closed her eyes to better focus. Her swords were in the building, she could tell that much, but where? There, like a distant flashlight, she could feel them. Together, thankfully, and not that far off.

“They’re on the top floor.” she looked up at the ceiling, towards her weapons, and let Sanji pull her along into the hallway. The stairs creaked a bit, but they stepped lightly and nobody came running. The hallways were narrow, and felt really tall, and Kyla stopped in front of a slightly ajar door. Little Sanji said nothing, though she wasn’t sure if it was because he knew what was going on or was scared of being heard.

Kyla released his hand and pushed the door a little bit further open, slipping through the crack as soon as it was wide enough. It was a bedroom, complete with a messy bed and dirty clothes everywhere, but those details were unimportant. What mattered was the two sayas visible on top of the wardrobe.

“Sanji, get in here.” she hissed, climbing up onto the chair then the desk. She’d be able to make it up by climbing onto the top of the wardrobe, but she’d need a boost to get up there.

“What?” the blond shut the door behind himself, and Kyla beckoned him closer with one hand.

“I need you to be a stepstool.” she indicated where he had to be, and he nodded at once. It took a bit of squeezing to get into the space above the wardrobe, which was smaller than it had looked from the floor, but she fit. She was almost within arm’s reach of her swords when the door flew open, and the brute who’d grabbed her yesterday came barging in.

“You brats!” he howled, taking Little Sanji’s barefooted kick like it was nothing and scooping the blond up off the floor with one meaty hand. “By the time Straw Hat gets here, you’ll wish you’d never been born!”

Kyla squirmed forward a bit more, and her fingers brushed Sengo’s hilt. Her second sword was eager for battle, thirsty for the blood it had been denied by her quick knockout yesterday, but she couldn’t quite grasp it yet.

Little Sanji screamed, wordless and furious, and Kyla’s eyes widened as the blond bit down on his captor’s arm. His teeth sank through the bandages covering yesterday’s wounds, and her mouth fell open as Little Sanji ripped a good chunk of arm off with his teeth. 

“You’re dead meat!” the man roared, and Little Sanji spat the bloody flesh into his face before letting out a shrill battle cry.

Kyla forced herself forward another inch, and grabbed both her sword hilts. When she looked back Little Sanji had his legs locked around the man’s neck and was digging his thumbs into the guy’s eyeballs, screaming like a wild thing. Kyla managed to sidle off the edge of the wardrobe, and her left shoulder took the brunt of the impact with the floor. Little Sanji was standing over the man when she got her swords back where they belonged, the front of his shirt and haramaki absolutely drenched in blood, and Kyla had to wave her hand in front of his wide eyes a few times before they focused.

“I- I ki- is he dead?” Little Sanji’s voice wobbled, and Kyla nearly balked when he fixed her with pleading eyes.

She looked down at the man, and shook her head. “Dead guys don’t breathe. Nice job, though.” she looked up at him and smiled as bright as she could. “He sure didn’t see that coming.” Little Sanji didn’t laugh, and a moment later an explosion made both of them jump.

“Kyla!” Franky yelled from down below, nearly drowning out Nami’s call of “Sanji!”

“Told you they’d come for us.” she grinned, reaching for Little Sanji’s hand. He took it, blood slick fingers sliding between hers, and she half pulled him through the hall and down the stairs. Brook was waiting for them at the bottom, and though he had no eyes to widen his expressionless skull managed to project an air of shock. Everyone else’s faces were more visibly stunned, and Kyla waved as they descended the final flight.

“You’ll never believe what Sanji just did!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how sometimes when you start writing something, there's a scene or two you can see super clearly? Sanji putting a man's eyes out was one of those scenes for me. This chapter was super fun to write, and we're almost done with the teeny Sanji incident!


	18. Age 10: Mother, Brother Part 12

Sanji woke just slightly before dawn, and squinted blearily around the room for a second. This was the infirmary, not the men’s bunks. He sat up, and tried to remember what had happened that could’ve landed him in the infirmary for the night. There weren’t any bandages on him, but his head did feel unusually foggy. Maybe that was why it had taken him so long to notice he wasn’t wearing any clothes either. That was weird, but another quick look around the room revealed his suit folded neatly on Chopper’s desk.

Sanji shut his eyes, and rubbed his temples. They’d been making sure Trident was safe, or at least as safe as any New World island could be, and they’d run into some ambitious bounty hunters. One of them had used his Devil Fruit to trap them in a beam, but then... Sanji sighed, and got out of the infirmary bed to get dressed. He must’ve been knocked out by the devil fruit power and hit his head going down. But he was pretty sure Zoro had gotten hit too, so at least there was that.

His shoes were sitting against the side of the desk, socks stuffed in them, and he noted that someone must have taken the time to clean them off while he was unconscious. Probably Franky, he’d have to remember to thank the cyborg later. Once his shoes were laced up, Sanji stretched and went into the kitchen. It was early enough that he could make pancakes for breakfast, something he didn’t do often since Luffy could devour a whole stack in seconds. A glance in the fridge revealed they had breakfast sausages and even a few pounds of bacon, and enough eggs to make a full Straw Hat-sized batch of pancakes.

Sanji was well into the rhythm of pouring and flipping pancakes onto the platter when the door to the deck opened and shut. Kyla stood there for a second, then bolted towards him. Sanji set the ladle of batter back in the bowl, and took half a step sideways when she hit him to better disperse her momentum. She pressed her face into his apron, and he chuckled before running a hand through her loose mess of curls. “Good morning, eggplant.”

She looked up, and her smile was almost as wide as Luffy’s. “You’re you!” she laughed, hugging him tighter for a second before letting go and going to grab a glass from the cupboard.

Sanji turned back to the griddle, and ladled out a new set of pancakes. “Who else would I be?” he asked rhetorically as she filled her glass from the sink.

“Little Sanji.” Kyla replied, walking around to the bench bar on the other side of the peninsula and hopping up onto it. “Like you were yesterday.”

“Little?” Sanji raised an eyebrow behind his bangs.

“Uh-huh.” Kyla nodded, and took a sip of her water. “You were only a li’l bit taller than me, but Chopper said you weighed way less. You were super skinny, like Brook!” she giggled, and Sanji nearly dropped the ladle of batter as a lance of pain stabbed through his head. He’d never told any of the crew about that part of his life, but Kyla- he flipped the last pancake off the griddle, and planted his hands on the sliver of counter in front of the stove. The more he tried to think of how she would know that the worse his headache got, until the knobs on the stovetop were nothing more than blurry black spots against grimy chrome.

“Mom?” Kyla was worried, but something about her tone made a memory flash through his head. Only, it couldn’t be a real memory, because he was remembering waking up in the Sunny’s infirmary after being saved from the rock. And, wait, there was even more wrong than that. Usopp was too young, just a noodle-armed kid like he’d been back in East Blue, and Luffy was missing a few scars. Kyla tugged on his apron, and Sanji managed to school his expression into less of a grimace before looking at her.

“Should I get Chopper?” she asked, looking up at him. Sanji nodded, and she ran for the door. He turned the griddle off, and got over to the table before pressing the heels of his palms into his face. More memories were coming to mind now, all of them equally as vivid and impossible as the first. Usopp spinning a story about Zeff being with another ship in Luffy’s fleet. Lying in the infirmary bed with his legs stretched out, Kyla and an impossibly short and scrawny Zoro sitting on the lower half of the bed while Chopper patched them up after a mastery test. Sitting on the floor of the library with Kyla and talking about their moms. Standing at the table and punching a too-young Zoro in the chest. Standing over an eyeless man and turning to Kyla for reassurance, the taste of blood in his mouth.

That last one made his stomach turn, and he didn’t even notice Chopper and Kyla come running in until they were flanking him. Chopper felt his forehead with a cool hoof, swore, and Sanji squinted to track the little reindeer’s moving hand from side to side.

“Sanji, you stay here.” he said after a moment. “Kyla, get him a glass of water. I’m going to get some medicine.”

“Okay.” Kyla nodded, and hopped down to get a glass.

“Thanks, Chopper.” Sanji said quietly.

The tiny doctor returned a minute later with a pair of pills, and Sanji swallowed them with a gulp of water.

“Finish the glass, then get back in the infirmary.” Chopper said firmly. “Nami and Kyla can handle breakfast.”

“Should I go wake her up?” Kyla asked, fidgeting in place.

“Yes.” Chopper nodded. Kyla left the room, and Sanji almost swayed on his feet when he stood up. Fever, headache, a bit of vertigo. If he was coming down with something, why didn’t he feel sick when he woke up?

“Sanji?” Chopper clicked his hoof in front of Sanji’s face, getting his attention. “I’ll carry you in there if I have to.” he threatened, pointing at the open infirmary door.

Sanji took a deep breath, glad that at least his lungs were still working properly, and managed not to sway on his way into the adjoining room. Chopper made him take off his shoes and jacket and tie, and lie back down in the still rumpled bed. Then the little doctor stuck a thermometer in his mouth, and sat down on the edge of the mattress. The thermometer beeped after a minute, and Chopper pulled it out to read.

“What’s the last thing you remember before today?” he asked, getting a notepad and writing something down.

Sanji shrugged, and looked at the blurry ceiling. There were so many disjointed memories bouncing around his head, impossible events which felt far more real than any dream. “We went out on Trident.” he said after a long minute of silence. “There were bounty hunters, Usopp and I got caught in a devil fruit beam with the shitty swordsman. After that...” he trailed off, and reached unthinkingly for the pocket which used to hold a box of cigarettes before remembering that not only did he no longer keep cigarettes on hand, he wasn’t even wearing his jacket.

“Do you remember anything from the past month?” Chopper pressed. “You’re exhibiting the same symptoms Luffy Usopp and Zoro did when they regained their memories.”

“I’m not sure.” Sanji shook his head. “It feels like I’m remembering things, but they’re impossible.”

“He says to the talking reindeer.” Chopper muttered halfway under his breath before resuming his professional doctor voice. “Give me an example.”

Sanji thought for a second, trying to put the events in order. “Kyla and Usopp were doing the dishes, and I was sitting at the table. The marimo came in, we started arguing, and I-” Sanji frowned. “I punched him.” he glared at the ceiling. It was shockingly clear, he could remember the feeling of his knuckles slamming into Zoro’s sternum as if they were still aching from the impact, but the last time he punched anyone had been years before he met his nakama.

“Yeah, that happened.” Chopper made another note on his pad of paper. “You spent the last month as a ten year old child.”

Sanji actually looked at Chopper then, despite how the world spun when he moved his head too fast. “What?”

“The beam made everyone caught in it younger, and you were in it the longest so you became a child again.” the little reindeer said matter-of-fact-ly. Chopper tucked the pencil between his horn and hat, and gave Sanji a worried look. “You should’ve died on that rock.”

Sanji swallowed the wave of nausea which threatened to wash over him, and looked back at the ceiling. Chopper didn’t mean anything cruel by it, he was just expressing medical concern over a dozen years after the fact. “I almost did.” he said quietly.

“You should be fine in about an hour, but just stay in bed until then.” Chopper said in his no-arguing-I’m-a-doctor voice, breaking the heavy silence in the room before it could get too awkward. “We’ll save you some breakfast.”

Sanji grumbled under his breath, but the only one on this ship stupid enough to go against Chopper’s judgement were Luffy and Zoro, so he stayed put and tried to put the events of the past month in order. It was an entirely new level of surreal, having memories of Kyla as a peer rather than as someone in need of protection. Knowing that Zoro had been short and relatively scrawny as a teenager, though, that was nice. He’d definitely have to bring that up sometime, just to get under the marimo’s skin.

Kyla was chattering happily in the kitchen, as pleasant and familiar a background noise as the sound of waves on the hull, and Sanji took deep deliberate breaths. His headache was already fading, his vision back to normal, but he had to wait at least half an hour before he could reasonably assure Chopper he was fine. There was a loud crash, followed by Nami swearing loudly, and Sanji was on his feet in a flash.

“What happened?” he asked, stepping into the kitchen in his sock feet.

“Nami touched the oven rack.” Kyla said from behind the peninsula, and Sanji winced in sympathy. He’d burnt his wrists and knuckles plenty of times back on the Baratie, and it always hurt like a bitch.

“I’ll get the aloe.”

“Thanks.” Nami didn’t even look up from the sink, where she’d shoved her hand under a full blast stream of icy cold water.

A few minutes later, Sanji had wrapped Nami’s wrist in bandages to stop the aloe from rubbing off and Kyla was carrying a platter of pancakes over to the table very slowly and carefully. He tied off the fabric strip, and lifted Nami’s wrist to press a quick kiss over her burn. “There, all better.” he grinned, and she punched him in the shoulder.

“Nice to have you back.” she smiled, stretching her arms over her head. “Could you make me some tea? I’m still a bit asleep, waking up this early.”

“Of course, Nami.” Sanji beamed, standing quickly. The world spun for a second, but he ignored the slight vertigo and went to start a kettle boiling. Once there was a mug set aside for Nami’s tea, and another for Robin’s coffee, he took a quick look at the progress the girls had made. Most of the pancakes were done, as was the bacon, but the sausages were untouched. Great, he could finish this up in no time. Only…

“What’s in the oven?” he asked over his shoulder, pulling out a pan for the sausages.

“Baked eggy toast.” Kyla answered with a grin. “With tangerines!”

If it had been anyone other than Nami and Kyla who decided to make french toast and pancakes for the same meal, not to mention stuffed french toast with a citrus fruit, he would’ve chastised them for the poor choice. But, as it stood, he simply smiled and ruffled Kyla’s hair. “You remembered the recipe?”

She nodded, and crouched in front of the oven. “It should be done soon.”

“Well, you keep an eye on that and I’ll finish the pancakes and sausages.”

“And my tea.” Nami said from the table.

“And of course your tea, Nami dear.” he smiled over his shoulder, then looked back at the stove. There was just enough batter left to make the usual heart pancakes for Nami Robin and Kyla, and maybe even to add a bit of extra decoration to Kyla’s. She’d been so worried about him earlier, it was the least he could do. Well, once he got his shoes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it for this incident! This was one of my favourite ones to write, in all honesty. The idea grabbed me pretty early on, when I realized that nobody on the Sunny actually knows about Sanji and Zoro’s backstories. All in all, I’m damn happy with how it came out. Kyla's Story will be going on a short hiatus next week, but instead I'll be posting the rest of [Four times Luffy didn't get to throw the stowaway overboard, and one time he did](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4697978/chapters/10726382).
> 
> Also, who’s hype with me for Force Awakens this Friday and [Adventure of Nebulandia](www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/11/21/video-one-piece-adventure-of-nebulandia-anime-special-preview) this Saturday? (AO3 hates me, just delete everything before www.crunchyroll on the Nebulandia link)


	19. Age 12: Santoryu (Three Sword Style)

“Kyla.”

Kyla looked away from the training dummy at Zoro’s voice, and her mouth fell open. Her sensei was holding a sword she’d never seen before, its wrappings and saya both a deep green not dissimilar to Zoro’s robe. “What’s that?” she breathed, lowering her shinai.

“Guess.” he grinned, eye shining.

“A katana?” she hung her shinai from her haramaki, and reached out to hesitantly touch the saya. It was so shiny, brand new, a gleaming contrast to her gently battered pair resting in the window seat.

“Not quite.” Zoro set the sword in her hands, and she gripped it firmly. “It’s a tachi, so it’s a bit longer than your katana.”

Kyla shifted her grip so her right hand was on the saya and her left on the hilt. The sword was certainly a bit heavier than the ones she was used to, and when she drew it a few inches the blade shone. “Wow.” she looked up at Zoro, and found him smiling kindly.

“Its name is Hibiki. I expect you to take good care of it, you hear?”

Kyla’s face split in a wide grin, and she nodded quickly. “Of course!” she slid the blade fully back into its sheath, released the hilt, and threw her arms around Zoro. “Thank you!” she pressed her face into his shoulder. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

He chuckled, and patted her on the back. “Well, if that’s all you wanted-”

“There’s more?” Kyla whipped her head up, and Zoro laughed.

“Did you think I would give you a third sword and not teach you how to use it?”

Kyla hugged him tighter, and giggled despite herself. “Best birthday ever.”

\---

Four hours later, Kyla’s mouth tasted like silk cord and her jaw ached. Zoro made it look so easy, holding a sword in his mouth. And she hadn’t even started trying to hit things yet! She’d opted to use her newest and longest shinai in her mouth, since its hilt was cleanest, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t manage to speak clearly around the hilt.

“Alright.” Zoro dropped the weight in his mouth into his hand, catching them effortlessly. “That’s enough for today.”

Kyla reached up to pull the shinai from her mouth, and worked her jaw in a circle to ease the cramping muscles. “How can you talk around that?” she frowned at the wooden sword in her hand.

“Practice.” Zoro said casually, putting his weights back where they belonged.

Kyla hung her first two shinai from their loops, then frowned at her newest one. “I don’t have anywhere to put it.” she said quietly. Zoro shrugged.

“You won’t be using it in battle for a while, so there’s no rush getting Nami to add a new loop.”

“Okay.” Kyla walked over to the windows, and lifted up a section of the bench seat to put her shinai inside. She started to pull out a candle and box of matches, but Zoro put a hand on her arm and when she looked up at him he was shaking his head.

“Lesson’s not over yet.”

Kyla put the candle back down, and lowered the lid before turning to face her sensei. “But you said we were done for today.”

“Done with santoryu, not haki.”

Kyla straightened up at that, her eyes widening. “Haki?” she asked, because there was always the possibility she’d misheard him. Haki was what let Luffy defeat a whole ship full of enemies without throwing a single punch and Usopp make impossible shots. “So you mean I’d be able to actually make Luffy stop stealing my food?”

Zoro chuckled. “No guarantees, but armament haki would let you hit him properly.”

“What do I do?” Kyla clasped her hands, and rocked to to heel and back before settling down.

“Well, for starters you can sit down.” Zoro inclined his head towards the window seat, and Kyla sat with her legs tucked up in front of herself. Her sensei didn’t say anything for a minute, concentrating, and Kyla fidgeted in her seat until Zoro fixed her with an iron glare.

“Sorry.” she smiled sheepishly, and his expression softened back into its usual stoic mask.

“Armament haki is simple, in theory.” Zoro held out his hand, and the skin on his palm turned black like it was stained with Nami’s good ink. “It’s a manifestation of your willpower, the spirit that drives you to fight.” he curled his hand into a fist, and the black spread to cover his whole hand in just a few heartbeats. “But it requires absolute concentration.”

“Okay.” Kyla said, nodding her head once. “What do I concentrate on?”

\---

Three months later, when she’d finally gotten the hang of keeping the shinai in her mouth, Kyla climbed up to the crow’s nest to train and when she reached the hatch she heard Usopp’s voice. That was weird, Usopp didn’t usually come up here unless he was on watch.

“She’s not ready yet.” Zoro said as Kyla opened the trapdoor. Were they talking about her?

“She’s entirely ready. She’s as strong as I was before we were split up-”

“And you didn’t even know you were capable of haki until Dressrosa.” Zoro said firmly. “What makes you think she’d even be capable of enough to make a difference?”

Kyla shrunk down slightly, but didn’t let the hatch close all the way. They were definitely talking about her, since Nami and Robin were already really good at both types of haki. Well, Nami was better at observation and Robin was better at armament, but they both already knew both normal types.

“Because she’s Sanji’s daughter?” Usopp retorted after a second of silence. “He’s got the second strongest observation haki on this ship, not counting Luffy.”

“You do realize Kyla’s not _actually_ related to the stupid love-cook, right?”

“Oh, right.” Usopp sighed. “It’s easy to forget. But even so, she’s a lot like him, and it’s not just the eyebrows. Call it a hunch, but I think she’d learn observation haki just as well as armament. What do you think, Kyla?”

Kyla ducked her head, and the hatch clicked shut. After a few long seconds of silence from inside the crow’s nest, though, she opened it again and climbed in with a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Usopp nodded his head once. “Now, whattaya say about learning observation haki?”

“It sounds fun.” Kyla grinned wider than earlier, and straightened up. “Can I, sensei Zoro?”

Zoro smirked slightly, and gave her a slow nod. “I don’t see why not.”

“I knew you’d come around.” Usopp grinned, slightly smug. “Here, Kyla, put this on.” he pulled a strip of black fabric from his pocket, and Kyla looked at it blankly for a second.

“What is it?” she asked, lifting it from the sniper’s hands.

“A blindfold. Observation haki is like seeing without using your eyes, so you have to not use your eyes while you’re training it.”

“Oh, okay.” she lifted the strip of fabric to her face, and tied it around her eyes so the whole world was blocked out.

“Now, I’m gonna punch you a few times, so try to dodge.”

Kyla nodded, and felt Usopp’s fist connect with her shoulder. The next three blows landed as well, and Zoro sighed.

“I’ll take it from here, Usopp. She _is_ my student, not yours.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry ‘bout that.” the sniper chuckled, and patted her on the head. “I’m sure you’ll pick it up in no time.”

He left, closing the trapdoor behind himself, and Kyla heard Zoro open one of the window seats. Probably the one with her shinai and candles inside, since there wasn’t anything else in that part of the room they used in training.

“Give me your swords.” Zoro said, and Kyla hesitated for a second before doing so. He was probably just going to put them on the window seat for her, since she was blindfolded. He placed the three shinai in her hands, and she kept the long one in her left hand rather than putting it in her mouth. Try as she might, she still couldn’t talk around the hilt like Zoro could.

“How did you learn observation haki?” she asked, listening to Zoro’s footsteps as he went over to the windows.

“Mihawk tied a blindfold over my eyes and I wasn’t allowed to take it off until I could fight without needing to see. Then he made Perona follow me around to make sure I didn’t walk off a cliff or something.” Zoro grumbled something about trees which she couldn’t quite make out, and Kyla giggled. Then he started walking back towards her, and she paused with her left hand halfway to her mouth.

“You’ve got my swords.” she said, frowning.

“Yes.” Zoro answered, and she could hear the hint of a smile in his voice. “Knowing where your weapons are is low-level observation haki. You can also use it to know where your opponents are, and to anticipate their moves.” there was a slight ring as he drew Sengo and her first sword. “I’ll be using the backs of the blades, so just try to block me for now.”

“Got it.” Kyla nodded once, and put her third shinai in her mouth. She tried to say Ready, but it came out more like “Reh-ee.” Zoro seemed to understand, though, because he swung her first sword and caught her on the shoulder. Sengo was next, and she managed to deflect it from her shoulder but the tip caught her cheek and drew blood. The next pair she blocked, but then Zoro stuck his foot out and pulled hers out from under her.

“Mind your footwork.”

Kyla scrambled back to her feet, third shinai in hand. “Yes, sensei.” she nodded her head once, then put her newest wooden sword back in her mouth. She was already learning santoryu and armament haki, and now she’d learn this too.


	20. Age 13: Education Part 1

Thunder crashed outside, and Kyla pulled a face at her reflection in the the rain-streaked window. She’d have to go through that to get to the kitchen, but getting soaked with cold rain wasn’t exactly something she looked forward to. “Stupid storm.” she muttered, sliding her swords into the loops on her haramaki. The hatch stuck slightly when she pulled on it, and she added that to her mental list of things that needed doing. It was probably the hinges, so that’d be an easy fix once she remembered where Franky kept the oil can. She’d put it back where she found it after the last time, but the cyborg’s workshop was so weirdly organized she had no idea where that was anymore.

Kyla sighed, and started climbing down to the deck. It was slow going, making sure she didn’t slip on wet surfaces or get blown off by the wind, but she was soaked to the skin after the first ten seconds so it wasn’t like her speed made much of a difference. The sky lit up with lightning, and she reflexively glanced up while counting off the seconds between lightning and thunder. Two and a half, so it was about a third of a league away, nothing to worry about. She tilted her head back down to keep climbing, and a motion out on the sea caught her eye.

Kyla shielded her eyes from the rain with one hand, and squinted into the storm. It almost looked like there was a ship out there, battling the high waves and fierce winds, but between the sheets of rain and low light she couldn’t really be sure. She reached the grass deck a few minutes later, and looked from the kitchen door to the door of the girls’ room. She could go put on dry clothes and borrow one of Nami’s old raincoats, or she could go and make dinner first. Clothes, she decided after a moment. There was still a towel in the bedroom from her last bath a few days ago, and that way she wouldn’t have to clean the floor in two rooms tomorrow.

\---

The next morning, Kyla completed her usual morning workout and kept her first shinai in hand as she headed out onto Ialst. If she really had seen a ship last night, it might have wrecked on the west beach or off the shore. And if it had wrecked, there might be survivors. Or loot! She smiled absently, and hummed one of Usopp’s favourite songs to herself as she trekked through the forest, using her haki-coated shinai to beat a path through thicker bits of underbrush. It was good practice, turning a blunt object into a weapon strong enough to substitute for one of her swords. And, as a bonus, using the shinai meant she didn’t have to scrub plant residue off of her blades later.

It only took half an hour to reach the southern end of the west beach, and once free of the trees she started heading up the coast. There wasn’t anything unusual scattered along the high tide line, or even higher up where last night’s waves had smeared the plants with sand. Kyla took this as a good sign, and kept walking. Maybe they’d just kept going, sailed right through the storm and come out the other side.

The sand underfoot gradually gave way to gravel, and the land on her right rose up in steep cliffs of striped rock. There was definitely a better word for it, though. One that started with an S. Saturated? No, that wasn’t right. Sedimentary? That was a type of rock, but still not the word she wanted. “Striated! No, wait, that’s not right.” she paused, and frowned up at the cliffs for a moment before shrugging and continuing on. She could look in Robin’s books when she got back to the Sunny and see if there was a word for layers of rock like that.

The beach continued on smoothly for a while, and then abruptly the cliffs cut inwards to form a sheltered bay, almost like a _super_ huge Sea King had taken a bite out of the island ages ago. The only reason the Sunny was where it was rather than here was because of the cliffs, really. Kyla turned the corner into the bay, and stopped in her tracks. The ship hadn’t wrecked, and it hadn’t sailed on either. It had made its way into the cove, dropped anchor, and waited out the storm. The crew was making minor repairs to the rigging and sails, and Kyla glanced at their flag.

Not Marines or pirates, so either a passenger ship or a merchant vessel. Either way, not a threat, and it had been more than a few months since she had someone else to talk to. Kyla put on her friendliest smile, and approached the handful of crewmen standing on the beach. “Hello!” she called, switching the shinai to her right hand so she could wave with her left. A few of the men’s heads turned at her voice, and by the time she reached the prow of the ship where most everybody was standing around, every eye was on her. All men, the youngest few in their late teens. Merchant vessel it was, then.

“Hello, little girl.” one of the men said, looking down at her. His coat was nicer than anyone else’s, and he wore it on his shoulders instead of with his arms in the sleeves, so he was probably the captain.

“I’m not little, I’m thirteen.” she snapped back automatically, lifting her chin.

“Well, little teen.” the man laughed, and Kyla got the feeling she’d made a rather large mistake walking in here. “I was not aware there were others at this island.” he tilted his head, examining her, and Kyla tightened her grip on her wooden sword. Even if she wasn’t fond of them, these people were civilians and she wouldn’t draw swords on them. Shinai, on the other hand, she had no qualms about using should she have to defend herself.

“What ship did you arrive here on, little teen?” he asked, placing a large hand on her head.

Kyla ducked out from under his touch, and took a step back so she was out of his reach. She couldn’t tell them the truth, she’d promised Sanji she’d be safe and if any of them decided they would like her bounty they’d be able to overwhelm her with sheer numbers. “I don’t remember.” she lied, a story coming to mind quickly. “It sank a while ago.”

“Oh, are you marooned here?” the captain asked, stepping towards her again. Kyla took another few steps backwards, until another hand clamped on her shoulder.

“No, I’m living here until my family comes back.” she said quickly. “They left, but they’re coming back for me, so I hafta wait here for them.”

The captain made a tut-tut sound, shaking his head. “Poor thing.”

“It’s fine, really.” she tried to pull out of the grip of the man holding her, and her heart started racing when she couldn’t manage it. He was stronger than her, and didn’t want to let go. “I’ve got to stay here. Please let go.” she grinned weakly up at the man, who gave her a pitying look.

“Kid, come on.” the civilian captain cajoled. “Just let us take you to people who can take care of ya.”

“No!” Kyla turned, forcing the man to released her shoulder or have his wrist twisted. “I’m waiting for my family!” she turned to run back to the open beach, and found the space filled with men who no doubt weighed twice as much as she did. It was hard to use her observation haki when she wasn’t calm, but the adrenaline sharpened her senses more than emotions dulled them, so she forced herself to Observe her surroundings. The captain made to grab her by the hair. She ducked before he could so much as touch it, turned, and bolted towards the deepest part of the bay’s curve. She was fast, and if she could outrun them she could get out the other side and lose them in the trees.

“Leave me alone!” she yelled, smacking one of the younger men out of the way with her shinai. One managed to trip her when she released her observation haki to pour every ounce of energy into running, and she caught herself by planting her wooden sword’s blade deep in the gravel beach. Rough hands gripped her arms as she scrambled to get her feet back under herself, and she couldn’t get enough leverage to break free again or even draw her swords. “I just wanna go home!”

“Don’t worry, kid.” the captain said from behind her, footsteps crunching on the crushed stone. “We’ll take you somewhere better than this uninhabited shithole.”

“Let me go!” Kyla yelled, twisting to try and bite one of the men holding her.

“Whoa!” he yelped, gripping her arm tighter and yanking it behind her back. “The little bitch’s half feral!”

“Cuff her if you have to, but we’re taking her to Yabus.” the captain said with a note of finality. “They’ll straighten her out there.”

Cold metal clicked around her wrists not long after, and when Kyla was shoved into a ship’s brig for the second time in her life, she nearly threw up. They set sail not half an hour later, and she curled into a ball and tried not to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this we enter the longest, most blatantly self-indulgent incident of this fic. Currently it's 16 chapters long, but I still have to write most of it out so that number will probably go up.
> 
> Why is Kyla all alone? Well, let’s just say... something happened which is threatening the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, and they had to split up to handle it. But none of them wanted to bring Kyla along into a potentially _really dangerous_ situation, so they came up with the brilliant plan of leaving her on her own for a few months, maybe a year if this thing takes longer than expected to settle. She’s old enough to look out for herself, the kitchen is well-stocked, and it’s as safe an uninhabited island as you can hope to find in the New World.
> 
> Unrelated, who else is hype for Stevenbomb kicking off tonight? I know I am~


	21. Age 13: Education Part 2

Romà Sara sighed, and crossed her legs under the desk. She’d finished the newspaper crossword half an hour ago, and her lunch break wasn’t for another hour and a half. Well, so long as she made rent she could handle some boredom. Better than getting shot at on a regular basis, like her parents.

The door opened, and she sat up straighter as a man walked in dragging a young woman by the elbow. Sara felt her eyebrows lifting, and gave the lady a quick once-over. Dirty clothes, absolutely filthy hair, a scowl as mean as any pirate’s, and three swords hanging from the haramaki around her waist. Gods, she hoped she wouldn’t be responsible for this one. The young woman’s hands were cuffed behind her back, the posture familiar to Sara from her time as an enlisted Marine before she got this desk job, and anyone with eyes could tell she was trouble waiting to happen.

“Captain says you lot take in kids like this?” the man gestured to the dark skinned woman, who glared up at him and stomped on his toes.

“I’m thirteen.” she insisted, then trained her deep brown eyes on Sara. “I’ve already got a family, I was waiting for them on Ialst before these guys kidnapped me.” she said it firmly, drawing herself up to her full height. “You’re Marines, right? Shouldn’t you arrest them for kidnapping?”

Sara sighed, and opened a drawer to pull out the admission forms. “As I’m sure you know, Ialst is uninhabited. Since you’re a minor, we’re obligated to keep you in our custody until your family returns for you.”

The lady’s face flipped through a handful of emotions before settling on rage, and Sara leaned back slightly as the heavily armed woman struggled against her cuffs. “I need to go back to Ialst!” she yelled, trying to pull out of the man’s grip. Sara looked to the sailor, and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“She’s been like this since we found her on Ialst.” he shrugged. “Can I just leave her here?”

“Well, if you don’t have the key for her handcuffs we’ll have to charge you a slight fee, but-”

“Got it.” the man interrupted, holding up a small silvery key.

“Great, just give that here and I’ll get her sorted.” Sara held out a hand, and the man walked over to drop the key in her palm.

“Captain said you don’t have to bother returning the cuffs, either.”

“Duly noted.” Sara smiled politely, tucked the key in the pocket of her uniform slacks, and clipped the papers to her clipboard along with a pen. “You, come with me.” she smiled as reassuringly as she could, and stood from her chair. “There’s a room just down the hall where we can sit and fill out your paperwork.”

“No!” the dark woman yelled, this time managing to wrench herself free and staggering a few steps away from the man who’d brought her in. “I’m not staying here, I’m going back to Ialst!”

“Hey, don’t make me call security.” Sara threatened. Usually the prospect of armed Marines was enough to silence the more thuggish ones brought in off the streets, but this lady was either brave, confident, or just incredibly stupid. Considering what had come out of her mouth so far, Sara would’ve put her money on the latter.

“Do it.” the lady spat, moving her hands as it to grab the hilt of one of her swords. “Uncuff me and I’ll prove I can take care of my own damn self.”

“Kaulana, could you make the call?” Sara asked, tucking her clipboard under her arm. And to think, she’d just been bored out of her skull a minute ago.

“Security should be here in just a minute.” the other Marine woman said, leaning back and smirking at the little ruffian currently snarling at them. “Better cool your jets there, li’l lady. These guys don’t know their own strength, they might hurt a girl like you and not even know it.”

“Un. Cuff. Me.” the dark woman spat, eyes laser-focused on Sara’s face.

“The next time you threaten me, I’ll have to take away those swords you’re carrying.” Sara said smoothly, glaring right back. The woman’s eyes went wide, and she took a step back so most of her body was between the Marines and her swords. There, perfect piece of leverage. “How about this.” Sara shifted the clipboard back to her hands. “I’ll let you keep the swords as your personal effects, so long as you’re cooperative.” she smiled, making it absolutely saccharine sweet, and the young woman nodded hastily. That very moment the back door opened, and two heavily muscled Marines stepped into the room.

“You guys got a trouble-maker here?” the woman asked, tilting her hat back.

“That li’l bitch, right?” the man said a second later, inclining his head at the handcuffed woman.

“Yes, but she’s cooperating now.” Sara said politely. “Thank you for responding so quickly, though.”

“We’re right next door, not all the way across campus.” the woman smiled wryly. Sara made an affirmative noise, and held out her hand to the young lady before remembering the cuffs were still in place.

“Follow me, if you will.” she said in her most chipper voice, turning and walking down the hall towards the interview rooms. A pair of quiet footsteps followed, almost inaudible over Kaulana making small talk with the sailor and security guards, and Sara picked the most sturdily built interview room in the building. The swordswoman didn’t look like one to keep promises, and it was always better to be safe than sorry.

\---

Kyla nearly clocked the Marine lady when the handcuffs fell away, but held herself back. Even though she was a Marine, Romà was unarmed, and Kyla wasn’t sure she’d be able to take the adult in hand to hand, especially if Romà was able to use haki like some of the other Marines she’d encountered. So instead she sat down in the crappy plastic seat, gripped her first sword’s hilt in her left hand, and glared daggers at the woman as she sat down on the other side of the table.

“Alright, let’s start with the basics. What’s your name?”

Kyla scowled at her. “Given or Family?”

“Both, if you have them.”

She almost said Vinsmoke, but bit her tongue before it could come out. That name was dangerous. So dangerous it wasn't even on Sanji's bounty poster. She couldn't use Roronoa either, since claiming to be related to the World’s Greatest Swordsman and vice-captain of the Pirate King, while inside a Marine facility, was something even she wasn’t stupid enough to do. “Runa.” she said instead after a moment of silence. “My family name is Runa.”

“R O O N A?” the Marine asked. Kyla gave her the best withering glare she could muster.

“No. R U N A, like the word rune.”

“Well, no need to be so snippy about it.” the Marine huffed, writing it down. “And your given name?”

The first word that popped into her head, after the laughably terrible ideas of Nami and Robin, was Kamaria. But then she’d have to remember that until she found a way out of here, she’d have to respond to it, and her acting skills weren’t that great. “Ky.” she said after a long moment. “Spelled like the word sky without the S.”

“See?” the Marine jotted down the short name, and looked up with the fakest grin Kyla had ever seen. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

“Can I go yet?” Kyla asked, releasing her sword to cross her arms.

“Oh, no.” the woman shook her head. “There are a dozen more questions you need to answer even before we send you to the nurse for a physical.”

Kyla groaned, and slumped forward. This was going to be a very long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, next week I’m starting classes again. Just two, since I’m kinda awful at the whole academics thing, but I may be moving the updates to Tuesdays. We’ll see what happens ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Edit: Added Sanji's surname as something Kyla considers using, since he _is_ her mom. He has one of those now, as of chapter 812.


	22. Age 13: Education Part 3

“This is Runa Ky.” the middle aged woman said, and Kyla scowled harder as a soft hand landed on her shoulder. “She’ll be in our class from now on.”

A boy in the third row, near the wall, stuck his hand into the air and waved it obnoxiously. “Ms. Omik, are you gonna write her up for not wearing the uniform?”

“Miss Runa is new here.” the adult said firmly, seemingly unfazed by the question. “So I expect all of you to be nice to her.”

There was silence, and the woman sighed. “Runa, your seat is in the back.” she gestured to the only seat open, one row away from the wall and all the way in the back. Well, better than having a front-row seat to whatever the fuck this was.

Kyla started down between the rows, and Ms. Omik cleared her throat. “Runa, aren’t you forgetting something?”

The class giggled, and Kyla ducked her head as she turned around. Ms. Omik was holding out the brown bag she’d been given by the person who’d walked her here, and her hand went to the hilts of her swords for a moment. Only a brush, just the barest hint of contact, but their presence was as reassuring as it had been the first hundred thousand times. She retrieved the bag, and took a seat between a boy and girl with dark eyes and wavy brown hair a few shades darker than their skin.

“Alright, now that’s settled, everyone take out your math workbooks. You’ll be passing them left today.”

The boy on her left groaned, and pulled out a blue notebook with the word Math printed on the front.

“Miss Omik?” the girl on the far right of the back row stuck her hand in the air.

“Yes, Miss Piripi?”

“Since Runa is new here, does that mean Moana has to grade her blank sheet?”

Kyla glanced at the brown bag, and it struck her that it was identical to the ones under everyone else’s hard plastic seats. Did she have to pull out one of those books too?

“No. In fact, Miss Piripi, you may give your book to your brother again today. Miss Runa, please take out your workbook and follow along.”

Kyla glanced at the brown bag by her feet, and scowled at it. Stupid islanders, lumping her in with their own dumb kids when she should be back on Ialst taking care of the Sunny and training.

The teacher began writing numbers on the blackboard, and Kyla sifted through the tightly packed contents of the brown bag until she found the blue Math book and a sharpened pencil. The equations on the specified page were more complex than anything Nami had ever taught her, almost more letters than numbers, and as Ms. Omik wrote problems and solutions on the board the young pirate doodled. She continued doodling through the period, sketching stick figures for potential new sword techniques right up until Ms. Omik set down the chalk and assigned homework, whatever that was. A bell rang from somewhere by the door, and the woman left the room.

Kyla flipped the book shut, and when she glanced around she found the boy on her left had circled around behind her to lean against his sister’s desk. The look he was giving her was calculating, almost analytical, and her hand drifted towards her swords. If he came at her now she’d definitely be hindered by the abundance of desks, not to mention bystanders.

Suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, he grinned and stuck out his hand. “I’m Piripi Moana, but you can just call me Captain Moana.”

The girl behind him snorted, and hopped up to sit on her desk. “Like everyone doesn’t already know that.” she flicked her thick wavy hair over her shoulder, and gave Kyla a friendly smile. “I’m Kalani.”

Kyla blinked, and when a hand reached for her Math booklet she grabbed it immediately by the wrist. It was attached to a pale boy, the same one who’d asked if the teacher would “write her up” for not wearing the stupid mini-Marine uniform. “That’s not yours.” she glared at him, and released his wrist to flick the book off the desk and into her lap.

“Aww, come on.” the pale teen pouted, placing his hands on the desk and leaning forward. “You’re a swordsman too, right? I just wanna look.”

Kyla glanced at the person invading her personal space, and raised an eyebrow. “If you’re a swordsman, where’s your sword?” his hips and shoulders were both bare of anything but the uniform, and he leaned back to cross his arms.

“Home.” he huffed. “Like yours should be.”

“Well if I left my swords at home, how would I defend myself from Ma-” Kyla snapped her mouth shut so fast she almost bit off the tip of her tongue. Saying she needed to defend herself from ‘Marine jack holes’, in a Marine funded school would be like admitting outright that she was a pirate. “From majorly scary pirates?” she finished after a moment, running her thumb over the end of Sengo’s hilt.

“Oh my god, Moana.” a girl said from Kyla’s left, walking over to lean against the open side of the desk and cut off the freckled teen’s escape route. “How bad did you scare the new kid that she thinks she’ll need three different swords to defend herself?”

“Why is it my fault?” the first boy whined.

“Because you’re the captain.” Kalani grinned, jabbing her brother in the side with an elbow. “And Amets is about as intimidating as a wet tissue.”

“Hey!” the pale boy frowned.

“When you don’t have your sword, kinda.” the short haired girl said with a smile.

“Eh, fair enough.” the taller boy, Amets, shrugged.

“Anyway, all I’ve done is introduce myself.” Moana pressed a hand to his chest and looked offended. “Do you think so little of me, Cam?”

“I know I do.” Kalani chuckled, distracting both boys.

“Hey.”

Kyla turned her head back to the paler girl, Cam, and was met with a hand held at a respectful distance. “Name’s Nguyen Cam, Square Knot medic. The beanpole is Ochoa Amets, he’s our swordsman.” she lifted the hand she’d been offering, and placed it to one side of her mouth before leaning in to whisper in the freckled girl’s ear. “Don’t tell him, but he’s actually pretty impressive.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Kyla frowned, her hand loosening on the hilt of her first sword. These kids were unarmed, and even had the one named Amets been wearing his sword they didn’t seem interested in attacking her.

“Because he’s absolutely insufferable when he’s preening.” Cam rolled her eyes, brushed some of her pink hair behind her ear, and leaned back. “And Moana?” she waited for the darker boy to look at her before continuing. “Sometimes, yes. Like now, when you seem to have recruited a second swordsman without asking the rest of us.”

“Wait, wait.” Kyla shook her head, and her hair swished around her shoulders. “I never agreed to join any crew.” she frowned at Moana and crossed her arms.

“Wow, Cap.” Amets grinned smugly. “That’s a new low, even for us.”

“Oh?” Moana frowned, and framed his chin with his index finger and thumb. “Well, in that case.” he leaned forward, rocking up onto his toes briefly before falling back to stand fully upright. “Wanna join a pirate crew?”

“What.” Kyla blinked a few times, processing the question. “You guys are pirates?”

“Yep.” Kalani grinned, draping an arm around her brother’s shoulders. “Only crew this side of Yabus with a boat and a flag and everything.”

Kyla took a moment to force herself into hyper-awarebess, and one glance was enough to confirm her suspicions. She dropped her observation haki, and let her eyebrows shoot up. “Holy shit, you’re not kidding.”

“Duh.” Amets rolled his eyes. “Now are you gonna join or not?”

Kyla almost shook her head, then paused for a moment. If they had a ship, it was probably small enough to be manned by a crew of two or three. Or a single person who’d spent the past six years on a pirate ship. “Sure.” she grinned slyly, the lie coming to her lips as easily as anything. “But I’m no pirate.” she jabbed a thumb at her chest, and gave her most vicious grin. “I’m a sellsword, so if you want me on your crew you’ll have to pay me.”

The four uniformed pirates looked at each other, then Amets grinned. “Would you accept snacks as payment?”

A voice in her head which sounded remarkably like Nami’s urged Kyla to say no and insist upon being paid in cash, but then her stomach growled. Between the stupid questions and pointless physical, she’d completely missed lunch. She pressed a hand to it and grinned a bit sheepishly. “Snacks and favours.”

“That sound alright, Captain?” the lanky swordsman grinned.

“Sounds plenty alright, Treasurer.” Moana nodded, and extended a hand. “Welcome aboard, Ky. We can call you Ky, right?”

“I don’t see why not.” the swordsman shrugged, settling back in the hard plastic chair. “So, how long til I can see this ship?”

“Geez, you really are new aren’t you?” Cam sighed. “Nobody is allowed off campus until after the last bell, unless their parents come to get them or it’s a medical emergency the nurse can’t handle. Oh, by the way.” the short haired girl gestured to a pin on her shoulder scarf thing. “I’m the nurse’s aid for this class, so if you ever need to see him I’ll escort you.”

“I’m sure that won’t be an issue.” Kyla grinned politely, and Cam returned the smile with almost as much warmth as Luffy.

“Everyone in your seats, please.” an adult’s voice rang out as the door at the front of the room opened, and Cam gave her captain a backwards left-handed salute before hurrying back to her desk in the other corner of the room. Amets and Moana also got back to their seats, and Kalani slid back into hers with a practiced ease.

“I hear we have a new student in class today?”

Kyla groaned, and let her head drop onto the desk. She just had to endure this torture until last bell, whenever that was, and then she could jack herself a nice little pirate ship and sail on back to the Sunny. So long as she kept the rising sun on her left, she’d probably be able to make it back to Ialst before she dehydrated or starved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Quick explanation of what’s going on here. Remember back near the end of Sunny Stowaways, when I mentioned a Marine funded orphanage? Well, this particular Marine-funded orphanage happens to function as dorms for a K-12 school. From everything we’ve seen, I’m reasonably certain that compulsory education isn’t a thing that the world government mandates. But, since this is 6 years post-canon, I can say that yes, it is a thing now.
> 
> Long story short, the Marines figured that if so many kids were growing up to be pirates, maybe they should indoctrinate them earlier. So, two years ago (when Kyla was 11) compulsory education became a thing. Most schools are Marine-funded, and so have adorable little Marine-esque uniforms for the students to wear. And yes, there are more OCs. One of them may or may not be a bit of a love interest for Kyla, but I’m not sure yet which one or if I’ll be making anything of it. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Writing!
> 
> Yes, I did kinda name Moana after Disney’s Moana (hype af for that movie, seriously <3), but before anyone says anything, Moana is a gender neutral name, not a girl’s name. Incidentally, so is Kalani. If the twins were from anywhere in the real world, it’d be Hawaii. Cam would be Vietnamese, and Amets from the Catalan region of Spain.
> 
> Also, anybody else hype af for Zhou arc now? Sanji’s got a surname, _at least_ two older siblings, and now a fiancée! Can’t wait to find out what else is up with him that we never knew! And, in news only tangentially related to the story, I start classes on Wednesday. Ugh -_-
> 
> Wow, that was a long Author’s Note… 0_0


	23. Age 13: Education Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How the fuck did this not get posted? I am so confused. So, here, have a bonus chapter this week. Part 21 will be up on Monday, as usual.

After what felt like another few hours, but the clock labelled as only fifty minutes, the sound of a ringing bell came from the baby denden mushi seated high in the corner by the door. The stupid history teacher shut his book, and Kyla stuffed her workbook into the brown bag she’d been given.

“Have a nice day, everyone.” the teacher said with a somewhat vacant smile. “Don’t forget to read the rest of the chapter for homework.”

The Piripi twins got to their feet, and Kyla mimicked them. The left three rows of desks were heading towards a closet in the back of the room, and the right three rows were headed towards the door that lead into the hall. “Was that last bell?” Kyla asked, leaving the brown bag on the floor and trailing after the self-proclaimed pirate crew.

“Yeah.” Amets grinned, stretching his arms over his head. “At least we’re not on clean-up today.”

“Clean up?” Kyla frowned. Were the kids expected to clean the whole building? Even back home, she was only expected to keep her part of her bedroom neat, and help the adults with chores and general maintenance.

“Uh-huh.” Kalani nodded. “Half the class stays to clean the room each day, and once a week _everyone_ stays after to clean the whole school.” her face scrunched into a scowl. “I keep getting stuck with bathrooms.”

“That’s kinda messed up.” Kyla stuck her hands in her pockets as they left the building, the hilts of her swords knocking against her wrist with each step.

“Yeah, it’s like doing chores but worse.” Moana gagged, pretending to stick a finger down his throat.

“I got stuck with the third floor bathrooms once.” Cam shuddered. “It was worse than the time I helped my mom cut the sepsis out of some guy’s hand.”

Kyla decided not to ask what sepsis was, and fell silent as she followed the four friends towards the property’s gate. A pair of adults stood there, and as they approached Kyla saw the islanders pulling out little plastic cards. ID. The adults were checking ID before letting the kids out. “The fuck is that for?” Kyla pointed at the adults as they fell in line with the rest of the departing students.

“Oh, it’s to make sure kids who have detention don’t skip out on it.” Cam fished her ID out and pointed at a little coloured band across the top. “And if your ID has a dark blue stripe instead of a seastone green one, you need permission to leave.”

“Why?” Kyla frowned.

“Cuz only resident students have blue stripes.” Moana answered, twirling his card and nearly dropping it. Kyla frowned harder as the other three young pirates laughed at their captain. It was a good thing she was making her escape today, before her ID was printed up. She hadn’t expected the exits of this place to be actually guarded in any capacity. It was just a Marine orphanage and school, not a jail.

By the time they reached the gate, the best plan Kyla had come up with was to just try to run through the throng and hope she didn’t get caught. The man bowed to check Kalani’s ID, and Kyla broke into a sprint. She got approximately four steps before the other man’s hand caught her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

“In a hurry?”

Welp, time for Plan B. She looked up, and put on her best apologetic smile. “Yeah. My mom wants me home to help make dinner.” she widened her eyes to appear more excited. “We’re making fettuccine alfredo from scratch!”

The Marine laughed, and crouched slightly so they were the same height. “Well, I’ll let you get to that as soon as you show me your ID.”

Kyla pulled her best regretful wince. “I lost it.” she said in a small voice. “It slid under my locker, and the new one won’t be ready until tomorrow.” she blinked hard, and made her breath hitch a little. “I’m not trying to get out of detention, promise!”

The Marine looked taken aback, and sympathetic to boot. He glanced at the queue of students, then at the sheet in his hand. “Well, I know all the kids on this list, and you’re not one of them, so I guess you can go.” he released her shoulder, and patted her on the head. “Sorry about your ID, kiddo.”

Kyla gave him a bright, fake smile, and turned to jog down the street in the direction of the four local pirates. She went past them, kept jogging until she could turn a corner, and once out of sight of the Marines she stopped and waited for them to catch up.

“That was incredible!” Moana yelled when he rounded the corner, eyes bright and smile as wide as it could go. “I’ve never seen anyone get out the gate without at least a temp!”

Kyla grinned, and ducked her head. “It was nothing, really. My-” she faltered for a moment on what to call Usopp. She’d never really considered it beyond the fact that they were nakama, and thus family. She didn’t realize she’d reached for her swords until she felt her first sword’s hilt in her palm, the shape of it familiar against her calluses. “My brother’s way better at that stuff than me.” she looked up, and did her best impression of a humble smile.

“You say you’re no pirate, and yet you lie to grown-ups without missing a beat.” Cam grinned. “I think we’ll get along just fine, Ky.”

“Anyway.” Kyla released her sword, and tucked her hands in her pockets. “You said you had a boat?”

\---

Half an hour later, Kyla decided she really hated this forest. The trees were huge, the air was even hotter and muggier in the shade they cast, and the incessant insect noise was going to drive her mad sooner than later. Thankfully, they came out into a relatively clear area at the end of the narrow foot path, and the first thing Kyla noticed was the sea breeze blowing in. The far end of the clearing was a cliff, sheer enough she couldn’t see the beach at the bottom from this angle, and the sound of waves on the shore was a calming thing.

Smack dab in the center of the beaten dirt of the clearing was a flagpole. It was made of wood, with a very obvious joint in the middle where the two pieces were joined, and the rope running up it was more like especially rough twine. Then her gaze reached the top, and her eyebrows lifted under her bangs. The black flag flew far below the treetops, visible from the sea and this bit of dirt but nowhere else. And that was surely a damn shame, considering the skull looked more like Brook’s than any other flag she’d seen and the square knot tied beneath it in place of crossed bones was immediately recognizable as both rope, and a specific knot.

“I drew the flag.” Amets said proudly.

“That’s pretty damn impressive.” Kyla admitted. The paler of the girls, Cam, had said she was medic of the Square Knots. That must be the name of their crew, the Square Knots Pirates. “Why a square knot, though?” she tilted her head towards Moana, their captain, and made her best ‘I’m listening and very interested’ face.

“Well, I’m gonna be a shipwright when I grow up, and a square knot looks like an X.” he shrugged. “Also, they get tighter under pressure instead of coming undone, and there’s probably some really poetic shit I could say about that.”

Kalani snorted, and punched her brother in the arm. “What haven’t you said about it?”

“Hush, you.” Moana glared at his sister, and Kyla followed the small crew into their clearing. There was a rusty bucket seated atop a stick man, a rope ladder with knobbly rungs curled up by the edge of the cliff, and even four round chunks of wood which had been flattened on the top to become seats.

“Welcome to our pirate fort.” Cam said with a polite smile.

“I’ve never been in a pirate fort before.” Kyla gauged the size of the open space, probably enough to fight in if it came to that. “Is this a big one?”

“Biggest on the island.” Moana boasted with a grin.

“I suppose your ship is too?” she asked, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning forward slightly.

“Of course.” the young captain smirked, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his uniform shorts.

“Please.” Kalani rolled her eyes. “If those idiots on the other side of the island could build anything more than a raft we’d have some honest competition.”  
“Really?” Kyla raised her eyebrows slightly and tilted her head. “I thought for sure the most competent pirate crew Yabus has to offer would have a worthy ship.”

“Oh, we do.” Moana said quickly. “It’s the best ship I’ve ever built!”

“Only ship you’ve ever built.” Amets muttered under his breath.

“How the hell is the piece of shit down there a worthy ship?” Cam asked pointedly. “It’s only big enough for half the crew.”

“Not even, now we’ve got Ky.” Amets added.

“I’m working on making a new one!” Moana spluttered, crossing his arms. “It takes a while when you don’t have a proper shipyard.”

“Well, I’d love to see the finest work of such a talented young captain.” Kyla said, putting on a sweet smile. “Could I?”

“Of course!” Kalani answered quickly, shoving her brother aside. “I’m the navigator, so I’ll take you out.”

“Wha-!” Moana shoved his sister right back. “I’m the captain _and_ shipwright. It’s at least twice as much my ship as it is yours, I wanna take her out!”

“Can you even sail that tub on your own?” Kalani snapped, jabbing a finger into Moana’s chest, much to the amusement of the other two pirates. “I’m the navigator, I’m taking our new sellsword out.” she tossed her hair, and walked over to kick the rope ladder over the cliff edge.

“I’m the captain.” Moana huffed.

“And I’m older by almost half an hour.” Kalani smiled over her shoulder, wicked enough for any proper pirate. “Were you coming, Ky?”

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded her head, and followed the Square Knot navigator down the ladder. The cliff ended in a gravelly beach, and from that narrow strip of shore extended a short wooden pier. The planks were warped, salt-crusted, and the fat plastic bubble things were in far worse condition than what she’d seen on even the seediest island ports they landed at.

In contrast, the boat bumping up against said baubles with each wave was in pretty decent shape. The inside had smooth ruts worn into the hull and seats, all splinters worn away by time rather than by sandpaper, and the name was so faded it was actually illegible, only the deliberately smoothed area around it suggesting a name might have been carved into the hull with a pocket knife. It was easily the shittiest pirate ship she’d ever seen.

“Do you know how to handle a rudder?” Kalani asked, hopping into the boat and making it rock.

“I know the basics, yeah.” Kyla stepped in more cautiously, eyeing how high the lapping waves reached on the hull. This thing would swamp with three people, for sure. Well, maybe not, but only if they were really light people.

Kalani paused in untying the mooring rope, and looked at how low the ship was sitting in the water as if surprised by how little weight it held. “Holy hell, what do you eat, rocks?” she looked over to where Kyla was standing by the rudder, and raised her eyebrows.

Kyla frowned. “I may not be as good a chef as mom is, but my cooking’s not that bad.” she crossed her arms and glowered at the islander. “I thought you were gonna take this tub out and show me it’s worthy of being called a ship.”

“Whoa, touchy much?” Kalani huffed, dumping the rope in the bow of the ship without so much as coiling it up. “It’s probably your swords, really, not you.” she lifted a foot, placed her heel on the shoddy pier, and shoved off.

Kyla gripped the handle of the rudder, and pulled so they started heading out away from the island as Kalani dropped and set the sails. A few minutes later, they were riding a stiff wind south and the clifftop base was slowly shrinking behind them.

“So.” Kalani sat with her back to the mast, such a thin thing Kyla was sure Franky would be able to encircle it with a single hand. “What’s a girl like you doing with three swords?”

“They’re mine.” Kyla answered simply, keeping a firm grip on the rudder. “Won the first two in fights, and got the third as a birthday present from my sensei last year.” she tilted the control slightly, steering them parallel to the waves so the ship rocked with each one.

“Really?” Kalani tied down the sail, and made her way to the back of the ship to guide the rudder herself. Kyla let go, and stepped away. “I’ve never heard of a female swordsman with that many blades.”

Kyla bristled, and gripped the hilt of her first sword. “Well now you have.” she snapped. clenching her hand around the familiar Marine blue wrappings. The wind shifted, whipping her hair around her face, and Kyla had to break eye contact to wrestle it more or less back into place. Kalani’s solution, much simpler, was to simply stand and face into the wind with one knee pressed against the rudder control to stop it from turning them towards the coast.

A larger wave than the others hit the ship, and Kyla feigned a stumble forwards. “Ack!” she yelped, throwing her arms out and knocking Kalani off the back of the ship. The young navigator squawked as she went overboard, and resurfaced a moment later spluttering and clawing at the hair in her face.

“I’m fine!” Kalani called out, turning in circles blindly as she treaded water. Kyla grinned, took the rudder in hand, and started humming to herself as she approached the widest part of the island. She had a stolen ship under her feet, her swords at her side, and a sail full of wind. If only she had the materials she would’ve made a little flag to run up proclaiming herself a pirate. It wouldn’t be a Straw Hat flag, of course, just crossed bones behind the letter K, but any decent pirate ship needed a flag.

The sound of a rope smacking against wood snapped her back to reality, and Kyla’s heart leapt into her throat in an instant. One of the knots securing the sail had come loose, leaving the heavy undyed fabric to flap loosely in the wind. She was already losing momentum, and every second lost was a second more she’d have to wait to get back to Ialst. The rudder had no lock built in, but leaning her whole weight on the handle seemed to jam it, so that would have to do.

“Alright, come to Kyla.” she muttered, grasping for the rope as it flailed about in the wind. After a few minutes she managed to grasp her target, but as she bent to tie it back in place she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Something huge, brown, and headed right for her. She lifted her head, and several things ran through her head in a split second but two leapt out at her. _Fuck this is gonna hurt_ , and the advice she’d gotten on what to do if she ever went overboard.

Kyla got in most of a deep breath before the huge ship plowed into hers, and it was more reflex than anything else which had her applying a coat of armament haki to the forearms she raised to guard her head. Something scraped against the back of her shoulder, and she spread the invisible armour to cover her whole body. All three of her swords were still in their sayas, and she propelled herself towards the back of the ship as well as she could. It was still moving forward, but if she didn’t haul ass even the strongest armament haki wouldn’t keep the air from being battered out of her lungs eventually.

It felt like ages later that she finally surfaced, hair in her eyes, and sucked in a breath almost as deep as the one she’d taken before going under. The port was closer than she’d expected, and she struck out for the shore with an easy breaststroke. She’d have to give her swords daily triple cleanings for a week once she got home, and even that wouldn’t be able to really undo any damage the saltwater may cause. As it was, Zoro would probably kill her when they all got home for not taking care of Hibiki like she was supposed to.

When she pulled herself up onto the well-worn boards of the pier, Kyla felt heavier than she usually did after leaving the water. Her haramaki was waterlogged, her clothes were dripping, and the sayas on her hip were filled with seawater as well as solid steel. She squeezed a chunk of her hair to wring it out a bit, then looked around at the ships docked here. The smallest one she could see was just a rowboat, smaller than what she’d just been in, so she started walking. There had to be a ship here she could steal. She could dry her swords properly once she was off this blasted island and headed back to Ialst.

“Hey, are you alright?” an adult asked, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine.” Kyla said offhandedly, shrugging off the contact.

“That’s the one!” a man yelled from the end of the pier attached to the shore. Kyla flicked her gaze over to him, and found his finger levelled squarely at her. “That’s the girl that went under the big boat just left!”

Suddenly every eye was on her, and Kyla gripped her swords. At least her bangs were plastered down over her eyebrows, so the likelihood of somebody realizing her true identity was slim to none. The adults who crowded around her asking if she was alright or needed them to contact her parents were unarmed, but under such scrutiny Kyla couldn’t possibly steal a ship. She gritted her teeth, and blinked back tears. She just needed another plan, some way to distract this crowd and get their attention off of her. If she’d had even one of her family here, this wouldn’t be happening. She tried to breathe deep and even, but her breath hitched and she started trying to push her way through the mob.

“Hey, I recognize you.” a woman’s voice cut through the concerned tones of the rest of the crowd, and a strong hand clamped on Kyla’s shoulder. “You’re that half-feral bitch those merchants brought up to the orphanage earlier.”

A murmur of confusion ran through the crowd, and Kyla yanked free of the lady’s grip. Her hands were shaking, but she coated them in invisible armament haki and started shoving her way through the crowd as fast as she could.

“Hey, stop her!” the woman called out. “She’s a runaway!”

The word echoed through the crowded dock, and Kyla almost drew her first sword to ward off reaching hands. But no, these people were unarmed, bystanders not enemies, so instead she dropped her armament haki and forced herself into the hyper-awareness of observation haki. It only lasted most of the way down the pier, until her foot tangled in a pile of ropes and she went crashing down. A heavy knee was on her back before she could even begin to get back to her feet, and huge hands grabbed her by the elbows to force her arms behind her back.

“Let me go!” she yelled, struggling to buck the man off. “I just wanna go home!”

“Get off her, you fatass.” another man scolded. “Do you wanna kill her?”

“Kid survived going under a ship.” the man keeping her pressed to the boards retorted. “She’ll survive being pinned until Marines get here.”

Marines? Kyla drew as deep a breath as she could, and struggled harder. “Let. Me. Go!” she yelled, actually managing to lift her torso slightly off the ground for a moment. Her ribs were definitely bruised, maybe a little bit broken, but she could treat that after stealing a ship and getting the hell out of here. If she went back into Marine custody it would be next to impossible to escape again without shedding blood.

Of course, she definitely could escape if she went about it in a properly piratey way, but that would involve lots of bloodshed and draw the attention of a whole Marine base. She couldn’t take on a whole Marine base on her own yet, not like Luffy and Sanji and Zoro, and if she failed to escape she’d definitely be thrown in jail and probably never see her family again. Above all else, she had to stay safe. She had to remain free enough to sail home to the Sunny under her own power, or at least somehow barter her way onto a ship headed in that direction.

“So, that’s the runaway?” a new voice said, bringing Kyla’s attention back to her surroundings. She went still, every muscle tense, and her hands twitched towards her swords. Marines were the enemy, it wouldn’t weigh on her conscience to kill a few more in the process of making her escape. But there were too many bystanders, too many innocents who could be hit by a stray shot, and if they pulled guns on her she might not be able to summon up armament haki strong enough to protect herself.

“Yes sirs.” the man pinning her answered. “Heard she’s a feral li’l bitch, so you may wanna cuff her.”

“I just wanna go home.” she repeated, scrambling to her feet as the weight on her back vanished. “Please, just let me go home.” she pitched her voice towards pleading, and tilted her face up towards the Marines like she wasn’t a pirate with a million beri bounty on her head. “My family is gonna be so worried if they get back and I’m missing.”

“I recognize you.” the Marine woman said, frowning sternly. “Those guys found you on Ialst.”

“Please.” Kyla repeated, gripping the hilt of her first sword so hard the silk cord would surely leave imprints on her palm. Her throat was going tight again, and she breathed deep and even to keep from sobbing. Swordsmen didn’t cry, swordsmen were strong, and she was a swordsman. She shouldn’t be on the verge of tears over the fact that some stupid islanders and Marines wouldn’t listen to her.

“Sorry, kid.” the male Marine said, taking her by the wrist and dragging her down the dock towards the island. “Rules are rules. We can’t let a minor be living on their own.” he smiled at her. “But if your family reports you as missing, we’ll make sure you get reunited as soon as possible, okay?”

Kyla ducked her head, and sucked in a deep breath between her teeth. Maybe that’d be true if she really was Runa Ky, with a family who weren’t some of the most wanted people in this or any sea, but the Straw Hats would never think to ask the Marines for help.

“Come on, let’s get you changed into something nice and dry.” the female Marine said, placing a hand on Kyla’s shoulder as they headed inland. Kyla nodded mutely, and looked back briefly at the dock. She’d have to try again later, tonight or tomorrow, every day until she managed to find a ship small enough to sail by herself and get it out to sea. She had to get home, where she could maintain the ship and her swords and await the return of her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so every week when I post the new chapter I make a note in my google doc of how many hits this fic has, since AO3 doesn't have a handy dandy hit tracker like FFN does. Parts 3, 4, and 5 all have a number of hits. 4 has 17 hits up from 3, and 5 has 27 hits up from 4, but looking at the chapter data... Part 3 was posted on Jan 18th and Part 4 was posted on Jan 25th. So when the hell did I take the data for Part 4?


	24. age 13: Education Part 5

Kyla glared at the outfit laid out on the narrow white-sheeted bed, and wanted to scream. Sure her clothes had gotten a bit ripped up when she went under that huge boat earlier, but that was no reason she should be stuck with a bullshit pseudo-Marine uniform. And as if the shirt and necktie and shoulder scarf weren’t bad enough, they’d given her a skirt. A fucking skirt. She hadn’t worn a skirt in, well, ever actually. She stomped into the tiny crappy bathroom, and glared at her nice practical clothes hanging over the curtain rod of the metre-square shower stall.

Her shirt had already stopped dripping, but her pants and haramaki were still super fucking wet. Kyla growled, and tugged on her hair in frustration. She’d already wiped down her swords as well as she was able, towelled her hair until it was mostly dry, and her clothes were still wet. At this rate she’d have to wear the stupid uniform if she wanted to have dinner, which pissed her off even more. She kicked the bed frame, driving her heel against the footboard, and fell to the floor with a groan. She couldn’t fight her way out without bringing a whole Marine base down on her head, couldn’t get over the perimeter wall without having to make a jump down the other side onto uneven and unfamiliar ground, couldn’t get out the gate because now it had been locked for the night.

Half an hour later, she still had no idea what to do, and the baby denden mushi in the hall was saying that dinner was being served. Her shirt was dry, stiff and scratchy from saltwater, and her pants were only a little bit damp. Her haramaki was still squishy wet, and without it she felt as vulnerable as if she were still naked, but she could manage for half an hour. She opened the door, and followed a girl in the stupid uniform down to the first floor of the building. The cafeteria here was smaller than the one she’d glimpsed in the school building, and the food dropped on her plate looked far more unappetizing than even the worst of Nami’s cooking. It didn’t taste much better than it looked, and as soon as Kyla cleaned her plate she dumped it in the marked bin and headed back to the room she’d been assigned.

The uniform was still sitting there on the sheets, and just looking at it made her mad. This whole situation was so _stupid_. She was stuck here overnight because that fucking fake pirate navigator girl couldn’t tie a decent knot, and the adults in charge of this dump expected her to wear a marine uniform with a _skirt_ tomorrow? She grabbed Sengo off the dresser, and the sword resonated with her rage. If there was someone she could blame for this, she would’ve loved to kill them. Maybe it would’ve made it harder to get home, but Sengo had been restless for months and with her second sword in hand bloodshed never failed to sound like a really satisfying course of action.

Except there was no enemy to cut down, no one person to pin the blame on who she could target and defeat. She should’ve started training, picked up her other weapons and drilled santoryu forms as she’d been unable to do since being captured, but instead her hands tightened on Sengo’s hilt. Training wouldn’t relieve this frustration, only destruction could do that. And if there was no enemy to kill, she’d have to make do with her surroundings.

Kyla let out a yell of rage, and brought her second sword down on the mattress without so much as a glimmer of haki. It sliced into the foam stuffing easily, and left a sizable gash in the wooden frame beneath. Her next swipe, coated with enough haki to darken the blade ever so slightly, sliced the lower third clean off and left an impressive gouge in the floor. When she finally lowered her sword, the room was a wreck. The walls and ceiling were in pieces, littered all over what remained of the floor, and only two spots were still even vaguely intact. The dresser, where she’d laid out her swords and sayas to finish drying, and the bathroom, where her haramaki still hung from the curtain rod.

Kyla giggled, and checked Sengo for damage. Not a nick to be seen, and she felt much better now. Sheathing her second sword, she picked her way across the rubble-strewn floor and yanked her haramaki down from the edge of the shower. It was still damp, but when she squeezed it seawater no longer seeped out between her fingers so it was probably dry enough to wear. She stepped into it, settled the band over her stomach with the loops over her right hip, and hung her swords where they belonged.

Turning around to survey the room again, Kyla sighed. Now she’d have to come up with an explanation for why the room was a wreck, but at least that was something to do. Maybe she’d get her hands on a spare pair of pants while she was at it, if only to have something to wear while washing the saltwater crusting out of her clothes.

\---

The next morning, Kyla found herself seated in front of an old man who looked like he hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep last night. She sat carefully still, taking measured breaths and visualising a candle. If this guy kept saying nothing, she’d probably end up meditating just for something to do.

“You destroyed your room, because you didn’t want to wear a skirt?” the man said slowly, his tone questioning and skeptical.

“Yeah.” Kyla sat back and crossed her arms.

“Please explain to me exactly why you did this.” the man spoke in a measured tone, as if his patience was being tried. Good, he was wearing a Marine uniform, so she didn’t really care. In fact, Nami would probably be proud of her.

She shrugged, and rested her left ankle on her right knee. “Long day, I was bored, I’m a destructive little ass, I needed to vent. Take your pick.” she smirked, and rested her left hand on the hilt of her first sword. Its presence wasn’t nearly as strong as Sengo’s, but it was far more comforting. An assurance she could defend herself, rather than tense readiness for a bloody fight.

The man behind the desk sighed, and massaged his temples with thick sturdy fingers. “Arrangements can be made for you to be given shorts instead of the standard skirt, but I’m afraid we cannot overlook such wanton destruction of Marine property.”

Kyla fought down a smirk at that, instead folding her hands in her lap and nodding solemnly, like she actually gave a shit about Marine property.

“So, until further notice, you’ll be sharing a room with Lani.” the man looked down at the papers on his desk, and wrote something down on one of them. “She’s in the same year as you, but a different class. This is your new room number.” he handed over the piece of paper, and Kyla tucked it into her haramaki without reading it.

“So, can I go now?” she uncrossed her legs to scuff her left heel against the carpeted floor. “I hear breakfast starts in a few minutes.”

“Not with those weapons, you can’t.” the man inclined his head towards her swords, and this time Kyla gripped Sengo’s hilt.

“You can’t have them, they’re mine.” she said automatically, standing and gripping her first sword’s hilt in her right hand. If he had a holstered weapon she wouldn’t be able to see it from this angle, but should he draw she’d have two blades at the ready.

“Well, school rules prohibit students from carrying weapons on campus.” the man said in the most condescending tone Kyla had ever heard directed at her. “So I’m afraid you’ll have to hand your swords over to me, and then security will keep them until such time as you leave our custody, at which point they will be returned to you.”

Kyla shook her head, and kicked the chair out of the way so she could step back away from the desk, putting some distance between herself and any potential danger this Marine might pose to her. “They’re mine. My sensei told me to never let anyone else have them, for any reason.” she glanced over her shoulder at the door, unlocked and leading into an empty hallway. But where would she go? A fight would only bring more Marines down on her, and then they would realize they had a Straw Hat in their custody and she’d never get home. She’d have to talk her way out of this one, and fast. “I won’t bring them to class.” she said quickly, releasing her swords’ hilts and holding her hands out, palms up. “I’ll go back to the new room, and leave them there before I go to breakfast.” she put on her best pleading face, the one that never failed to convince Robin to let her out of lessons early to go train with Zoro, and after a moment the man behind the desk was wavering.

“Well, they _are_ listed as your personal effects, so I suppose it could be allowed.” he tapped his pen on the desk a few times, then pulled out two more pieces of paper and wrote something on each of them. “But only if you agree to see Ms. Tosell in this room after school today.” he held out a second slip of paper to her, and Kyla took it with another fake nod of agreement.

“Of course.” she plastered on a wide smile, and bowed to the Marine geezer. “I’ll go put away my swords now.” Kyla turned on her heel, and walked out of the room before the man could say anything else. It was bad enough she’d have to leave her swords unattended, but it also meant she couldn’t try to leave again while the other students were having whatever passed for lunch in this shithole. And then there was this meeting with an adult after class hours. She pulled the first piece of paper out of her haramaki, and frowned as she headed towards the room listed on it. It would probably be safer to attend, lie about whatever she needed to, and make her escape afterwards.

Her roommate was a bit paler than the Piripi twins, with impressive bedhead considering her hair only came down to her shoulders, and grumbled something about stupid administration before waving an arm vaguely at the narrow bed covered in lined papers and textbooks. “That’s yours, drop your shit there.” she yawned, and shuffled towards the bathroom. “I’m showering.”

Kyla glanced around the room, and decided that the best hiding place for her swords was probably the bed. Underneath was too obvious though, and between the two mattresses made a noticeable lump. Kyla frowned, then a smile spread across her face. The lower mattress had plenty of empty space between the metal springs. She could slice it open, and hide her words inside the mattress itself. That way, any Marines who came looking wouldn’t be able to find them at all.

Under the bed was a bit of a tight space, but she managed to use the tip of her first sword to slice open the mattress enough that her three swords and sayas all fit in. Getting them out later would be a pain and a half, but at least she was pretty sure they’d still be there to retrieve. The baby denden mushi in the hallway called out that it was time for breakfast, and Kyla pulled herself out from under the bed just seconds before Lani emerged from the bathroom with her shirt half buttoned and a towel over her head.

Kyla started for the door, and a weak grip encircled her elbow. “You’re seriously ditching breakfast?” Lani asked, eyebrows raised.

“No, I’m going down to eat.” Kyla frowned.

“But it’s a school day.” Lani said, and after a moment of silence sighed in exasperation. “You don’t get breakfast unless you’re already dressed for the day and have your ID on hand.” she looked Kyla up and down, then slid the towel off her head to rest on her shoulders. “Did you not get a uniform yesterday?”

Kyla shrugged. “I wrecked it.” she put on a slightly predatory smirk, like Zoro and Sanji wore when starting a fight. “Nobody puts me in a skirt that stupid without losing a few litres of blood first.”

Lani made an appropriately fearful face at that, and flicked her towel over onto the bed. “Fine, just go talk to the grown-ups and ask for a new uniform. You’ll need it for class anyways.”

Kyla sighed, and her hand closed on empty sword loops. Huh, she hadn’t even realized she was reaching for her weapons. “Where do I go?” she asked, disentangling her left hand from her haramaki and pulling open the door to the hallway.

“Idunno.” Lani shrugged. “Ask the front desk. I just live here.” she finished buttoning her shirt, and grabbed a brown bag from the foot of her narrow bed.

\---

Half an hour and a few vague threats later, Kyla sat down at an empty table in the corner of the dorm cafeteria with a plate of some sort of fried egg and noodle dish. It tasted like shit, far too salty and with an offputting texture, but she finished it anyways. She’d managed to get the man behind the desk to give her a pair of shorts instead of a skirt, but the shirt she’d been given was a girls’ one. The puffed sleeves were a dead giveaway, even without the fact that it felt like the crisp white fabric was trying to strangle her armpits.

At least it fit over her haramaki, which was now awkwardly tucked under both shorts and shirt. It would’ve been easier to simply take it off, but being both unarmed and unarmoured in a Marine facility was something next to suicidal. She’d be getting out later today, of course, but until then she’d pretend she didn’t want to slice this stupid getup to pieces with santoryu. Maybe set it on fire for extra effect. She grinned at the mental image, and made her way out of the dorm building with the resident students. The ID which marked Runa Ky as one of them rested against her thigh, and as she filed towards the building someone crashed into her.

“Ky!” a voice yelled in her ear as she staggered, shoving the assailant away. It was Kalani, eyes- watering?

“What the fuck?” Kyla frowned, taking a step back and crossing her arms.

“Cam heard you went under a boat after I fell off the Largo. We were so worried!” Kalani blurted, voice quieter but still rough-edged.

“Well, I’m fine, so you can stop crying like a baby.” Kyla gave the young navigator a shove, and turned to keep walking into the building. Play-pretend islander pirates had no reason to worry about a real pirate. Especially one who’d stolen their shitty excuse for a ship out from under them.

“You could’ve died!” Moana interrupted, grabbing her by the elbow. She stopped, and turned to face him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a pirate?” she jabbed her finger against his sternum. “Pirates die, it happens. You accept it and move on, or you stop calling yourself a pirate.” she pulled free of his grip, and pushed through the other islanders who had stopped to watch them. She couldn’t leave without her swords, and she couldn’t safely get those until after last bell, and from all the talking with adults in the past 24 hours she gathered that meant sitting in the same room as yesterday and pretending she cared about what was being ‘taught’.

The Square Knots gave her concerned looks as they walked in, and Kyla resolutely ignored them. She didn’t need them anymore, now that they had no boat for her to use. It wasn’t like she’d drag a handful of islanders along back home, and she wasn’t going to be here long enough to need them for anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla has... issues. Growing up with pirates will tend to do that to you, and the cursed sword definitely doesn’t help. Also, the last time Kyla had any sort of prolonged exposure to another kid her own age was when Sanji got turned little, and that was hardly a normal situation. So far, she’s been able to categorize everyone she meets into one of three slots. Nakama, stranger, and enemy. At this point, the concept of “friends” is a pretty foreign one to her.


	25. Age 13: Education Part 6

Kyla checked the plate next to the door, then looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. The name and number matched, so this was probably where she was supposed to be. She yanked the door open, and the woman behind the desk looked up with a polite smile. “You must be miss Runa. Come in.”

“Yeah.” Kyla answered, glowering as best she could. “Am I picking up more uniforms? It’s bad enough I have to wear it, but only having one would suck major ass.” she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

“Oh, no, nothing like that.” the woman waved her hand. “I’m a counsellor, Ms. Tosell. You had a very traumatic experience yesterday, and we make a practice of taking care of our wards’ health, both mental and physical.” she kept smiling that empty smile, and Kyla’s skin prickled.

“The only trauma I’ve been through recently is being fucking kidnapped.” she spat, turning on her heel to leave. “I don’t need to talk to you.”

“I’m afraid you do.” the woman said. “If you leave, I’ll have to put you on the watch list.”

Kyla paused, and turned around again to face the Marine. “Watch list?”

“Of at-risk students.” the woman said smoothly. “I’m sure you’d like to keep your after school hours free, so please, sit.” she gestured to a chair across from her desk, and Kyla reluctantly stepped into the room. She shut the door behind herself, and sat stiffly on the edge of the weirdly shaped chair. She’d have to remember what she said to this woman and write it down later, so she didn’t contradict herself in the future. Lying through her teeth to Marines and islanders was as easy as breathing, a skill Usopp had helped her hone over the past few years, but maintaining a lie was much harder.

“You said you were kidnapped?” the woman asked, picking up a pen and holding it over a pad of paper on her desk.

Kyla almost winced. She hadn’t meant to reveal that, but now it had to be one of the tiny truths in her lie. “Yeah.” she scowled, crossing her arms over her stomach and grabbing for her first sword’s hilt with her left hand. Her fingers met only air, and her heart dropped into her stomach before she remembered that all three of her swords were tucked safely away in a mattress in another building. She curled her hand into a fist, and caught one of the loops through the stupid uniform shirt. “I was waiting on Ialst for my family to come get me, and some merchants kidnapped me.”

“That must have been awful.” the Marine said, the sympathy in her tone so overblown it was unbearable.

“Staying here is worse.” Kyla snapped, tightening her fist and wishing she had a sword in her hand instead of fabric. Unarmed she was just a thirteen year old kid with a bounty and a little bit of haki, but armed she was a young swordsman with enough training to defeat most Marines. “My family could get back any day now, and if I’m not there they’ll never find me.” her throat started to tighten, and she took a few deep breaths. “You want me to get over being kidnapped? Let me go home.”

The woman behind the desk made a pitying face. “I’m afraid we can’t do that, Ky. Ialst is uninhabited, and during admission you told miss Romà you don’t know where your family is, what ship they’re on now, or any way to contact them.”

Kyla groaned, and dropped her head. “Then why do I have to fucking talk to you? You can’t fix what’s wrong, so why am I here?”

“Honestly, I was hoping to talk to you about yesterday.” the Marine set down her pen, and folded her arms on her desk. “You grew up on the sea, correct? You must know how lucky you are to have survived going under a ship of that size.”

“I’ve been told.” Kyla deadpanned, crossing her arms. “And?”

“You almost died, that can be a frightening thing.”

Kyla shrugged in lieu of an answer. It had never really made sense to her, how terribly islanders feared death.

The Marine behind the desk wrote something down, then underlined it. “What about your family?”

“What about them?”

“How would they feel if they found out you died trying to return to Ialst, rather than staying here where it’s safe?”

Kyla frowned. That was easy, they’d turn the Marine base to so much rubble, and if they ever found the merchants who took her, that ship would sink faster than a devil fruit user in open ocean. “Mom would be angry.” she said carefully. “Aunty Ro too.” she smiled slightly. “Sensei would be disappointed.” Zoro would probably be the most angry of all of them, after Sanji. He’d promised to teach her a new santoryu technique when they got back, and if she had died he wouldn’t have been able to keep that promise. And to die such a mundane death, rather than going down fighting like he surely would one day? It would be a disgrace if that happened to the student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman.

Kyla chuckled at the mental image of Luffy smashing the Marine base to bits with a single Elephant Gun. Zoro and Sanji would complain about him taking out all the worthwhile enemies before they had the chance, Nami would hit him over the head for burying potential treasure under a mound of debris, Brook would probably make a skull joke. The only downside would be that she’d be dead, and therefore not around to witness it. The Marine behind the desk raised her eyebrows, and jotted something down on her pad.

“The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was your, ah, outburst last night.”

Kyla slouched, and dug the fingernails of her right hand into her left elbow. What the hell could she say about that without revealing she hated the Marines?

“I understand that administration has already decided what disciplinary actions will be taken, so in the future, just know that I’m here for you.” she smiled in that too-sweet way islander adults did when they thought they were talking to a stupid little kid not a deadly young pirate swordsman.

“Sure, I’ll remember that.” Kyla smiled, standing up and letting her hands fall to her sides. “Can I go now?”

“Of course.” the Marine smiled, and Kyla really wished she had a sword on-hand. She pushed out the door, and was halfway to the stairs at the end of the hall when she realized her heart was pounding. She needed to get out of here, pronto. It shouldn’t take long to extract her swords, and now that she knew the deal she’d be able to get out the gate without causing a scene like she did yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short, but I’m pretty pleased with this chapter. On a manga note, holy hell the Vinsmokes are **assassins**? Absolutely did not see that coming! It’s almost scary how well Kyla would wear Sanji's family name. Like, she’d fit there so much better now than she would’ve fit if the theory I was backing had been correct.  And if certain theories regarding Mr. Prince are correct, she might even have been called Princess whether she was royalty or an assassin. ... gdi now i wanna draw that.


	26. Age 13: Education Part 7

“Miss Runa?”

Kyla lifted her head, and glared at the Marine woman standing near her. After failing to get through the gate with a story about going to a gym she’d been pointed towards a room tucked away in the back corner of the school building full of machines. She didn’t recognize most of them, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what the room was for. Most of the people in it were boys a fair bit bigger than her, but nobody had said a word when she picked out a pair of dumbbells and started doing curls. At least, not until this teacher walked in.

“One fifty, one fifty one.” she counted out loud, staring pointedly at the wall behind the woman’s head. Even if she was stuck in a stupid Marine-type outfit, this was familiar. She’d been neglecting her training for far too long, almost a week and a half now. Escaping this place without revealing her identity or killing people who didn’t deserve it was harder than she’d anticipated, but that was no reason to slack off on her training.

“Miss Runa.” the teacher repeated, a bit more firmly. Kyla thought she was the homeroom teacher, but then again she spent most of that period copying the Piripi girl’s homework at the Piripi boy’s insistence so she wasn’t really sure what the teacher looked like.

Kyla paused with both arms down, and gave the Marine her best withering glare. “I’m a little busy.” she resumed counting under her breath, and had reached one hundred and sixty before the teacher put a hand on each dumbbell and crouched to look her in the eyes.

“It’s about your hair.”

Kyla groaned, and bent her knees to set the weights on the floor. Fifty pounds was way too light to do not even two hundred reps, but unless she spoke with this woman she wouldn’t be able to get back to her workout in peace. “What about it?” she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well it’s a bit, unruly.” the Marine gestured vaguely at Kyla’s hair, unbraided for several months now and currently sticking up and back into a poof somewhere between Brook’s hairstyle and Usopp’s. “Wouldn’t you rather have it straightened? I’m sure it would look much better that way.”

Kyla bared her teeth in a snarl, moving her hands to press her hair down closer to her skull. “No.”

“At least a trim?” the teacher cajoled. “I’m sure you’d be much prettier with those split ends taken off and your bangs out of your face.” she reached to brush said bangs aside, and Kyla leapt back.

“No!” she repeated, louder than before, crouching where she’d landed atop the weight rack and moving her hand down to press her bangs against her dry forehead. “My hair’s fine the way it is, I don’t want your help!” she hopped down, placing the rack between herself and the teacher. Several of the Marine-wannabe boys were looking now, their gazes flicking between her and the teacher, who was now looking fairly awkward.

“Well, my offer will stand.” the Marine said cautiously, then she turned and walked out of the room almost fast enough to be called a jog. One of the boys who’d been bench-pressing about as much as she usually did sat up, and Kyla walked around the rack to pick up her weights again. He raised an eyebrow as she lifted them, and she gave him a poisonous look as he approached.

“I’m trying to train.” she said, looking at the wall and shifting her grip so she could lift them without stressing her wrists.

“My mom’s got hair like yours.” he said without preamble. “I could give you the name of the place she gets it done, if you want to get that teacher off your back.”

Kyla tilted her head slightly, and looked up at the boy. He seemed honest enough, smiling in a way that was sympathetic without being sickening, so she cracked a small, polite smile back at him. “Thanks, that’d be nice.”

Kyla wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but she she walked out of the closing weight room there was a torn bit of lined paper tucked in her hair with a salon name, denden mushi number, and street address scribbled on it in slightly smudged blue ink. And at the very bottom, _ask for Momi_. She tucked the scrap of paper in the pocket of her shorts, grabbed her brown bag, and went back to the room she was still sharing with Lani.

\---

Kalani looked across the cafeteria table at Runa Ky, the crazy newest member of their crew who’d tried to steal their ship and run home with it. The young navigator couldn’t properly explain why she lied to her twin, more a gut feeling than anything based in fact, but if she’d told Moana the truth of what happened out there then he would’ve kicked Ky off the crew without a second thought. So she’d told him she got knocked off the back by an unexpectedly large wave, and instructed Ky to sail down to the port rather than try turning back for her. And now he was sitting next to the swordswoman, trying and failing to steal bites of her lunch.

Kalani chuckled, and finished her sandwich. “Just each your own lunch before Amets steals it all.” she chided her twin.

Their resident swordsman took his cue admirably, and swiped Moana’s whole lunch box as their captain turned to look at him. At her side, Cam snorted in the middle of a swig of soda and immediately slammed the can down on the table. “Fuck!” she reached up and pinched her nose. “Fizz in my nose, fizz in my nose!”

Ky chuckled, and Kalani kicked her shin under the table. “Hey.” she said, getting the new girl’s attention as Cam got up to grab napkins and Moana started grabbing his lunch back from Amets. Ky turned a disinterested look on her, not quite the same glazed-over look she got during class but something close, and Kalani smiled. “Do you like what they’re serving today?”

Ky made a disgusted face, and looked down at her meal. “No. My sister’s not half as good as my mom, but even she’s a better cook than whoever’s working here.” she stuck her tongue out at her tray, and lifted a forkful of noodles. “But it’s food, and I paid for it.”

Kalani tilted her head slightly. “What’s your sister’s name? I don’t think you’ve mentioned her before.”

“Mimi.” Ky answered with a small, brief smile. “She’s the best.”

“I thought your mom was the best.” Kalani teased.

“Well, yeah.” Ky ducked her head, curly hair falling around her face. “But I can’t pick just one person in my family who’s the best. They’re all awesome.”

Kalani smiled. “You’re the youngest of how many, again?” she prodded, keeping her tone light and teasing.

Ky didn’t answer that, instead sitting back upright and brushing her loose hair out of her face. “Lots.” she wasn’t smiling anymore, which was a bit of a shame since Kalani was pretty sure dimples and freckles was the most adorable combination possible.

“Lucky.” Kalani crossed her arms behind her head. “I’ve just got a younger twin, and you can see what that’s like.” she gestured to her twin, who had one hand shoved in their swordsman’s face and the other groping around for his lunchbox.

The got a snort out of Ky. who took another bite of her lunch before responding. “My big bros are worse.” her mouth twitched in a brief approximation of a smile, barely there at all before it vanished.

Kalani finished off her packed lunch, and wadded up the various wrappings into a ball to toss out later. “Hey, Cam.” she greeted their medic as the girl sat back down. A glare was all the response she got, and she chuckled. “Your nose feeling better?”

“You owe me a drink.”

“Tomorrow.” Kalani promised. Ky went back to poking morosely at her lunch, and Kalani made a mental note of what she’d found out so far. Ky’s family was made up of her mom, an aunt, a sensei, a grandfather, a sister, and a whole mess of brothers. The numbers almost added up, but she couldn’t just act on a hunch. She’d just have to get Ky to keep hanging out with them until she could figure it out, one way or the other.

\---

Kyla held the razor carefully, and willed her hand to stop shaking. She used blades far more deadly than this as a sleep aid sometimes, and she’d had truly dangerous ones aimed at her with intent to maim if not kill. This shouldn’t be enough to make her breaths come faster and her heart race in her chest and hands shake so badly. There was nothing to fear from this cheap piece of shit, and it wasn’t like she was hungry enough to be trembling. Kyla planted her hands on the edge of the sink, and exhaled until her lungs were empty. Inhale for a count of eleven, exhale for seven. In for eleven, out for seven. It took longer than she would’ve liked for her hands to stop shaking, but when they did she realized her heartbeat had slowed to normal as well. Kyla lifted her hands from the sink, and pulled her bangs up with the right one. With the left, she touched Lani’s razor to her forehead.

Her fingers started to tremble again, and she tightened her grip on the razor’s handle to stop it. In for eleven, out for seven. She had to do this, it was a lie which would keep her safe until she could find a hole in the security of this place and sail on home. It didn’t hurt, but when she lowered the razor her heart was racing again and her insides felt all twisted up worse than any broken bones. Without the curls her eyebrows just swooped up into nothing, and her hand started shaking again as her breathing went back to quick shallow gasps. She dropped the razor, gripped the edge of the sink, and put her weight on her arms. Her face looked alright as long as her bangs were down, but when she lifted them cautiously her stomach did an unpleasant flip.

Sure she covered her curly eyebrows all the time, but that had stopped being about other people’s opinions a long time ago. Now she hid them to better blend in, to be just the darkest face in a crowd and not Black Leg Sanji’s daughter at a glance. The tweezers Lani used to shape her eyebrows were still on the side of the sink, and Kyla gritted her teeth as she picked them up. Her homeroom teacher was a nosy asshole, so she’d need a reason for why she kept refusing the woman’s offers of a haircut. She lifted her bangs again, and did her best to focus only on her eyebrows and not on the rest of her face.

In for eleven, out for seven. She could do this. She _would_ do this. It was just a bunch of short hairs, they’d grow back once she found a way out. It took almost an hour to pick her eyebrows into a patchy mess, largely because she had to stop and steady her hands every few minutes but also because there were just so _many_ hairs in her eyebrows. When she finally set the tweezers down her fingers were cramped as hell, and she dropped her bangs to massage them. When the teacher asked again she would show her newly fucked up eyebrows, and then the woman would stop asking. Hopefully.


	27. Age 13: Education Part 8

Kyla stepped out of the shower, and immediately flipped her head forward and down to wrap her hair in a towel. Dressing was a quick affair, underthings followed by haramaki followed by school uniform, and once her shirt was fully buttoned she stepped in front of the mirror. Her hands started to shake as she reached for the makeup pencils Ms. Blanxart had bought on the way back from getting her hair “fixed” at the salon that kid in the weight room had recommended, and she shut her eyes. Inhale for eleven seconds, exhale for seven. In for eleven, out for seven. She repeated the breathing exercise a few times, until her hands had stopped shaking, then grabbed the pencil without looking.

Drawing on eyebrows that looked nothing like her own made her stomach twist, but she managed to do it in only three tries this time. Then she unwrapped her hair from its towel, and her hands started shaking so badly she almost dropped the damp cloth. Even after a week and a half, her reflection still didn’t look right. Her hair was too long, too smooth, more like Nami or Robin’s than Usopp or Brook’s. She’d have to cut it off, once she got home. Tell them she’d had an accident while training and cut the rest short to make it even. That would work, probably.

Kyla exhaled until her lungs were empty, and turned away from the mirror to grab a Marine blue hair tie off the doorknob. Wearing a ponytail felt weird, but it was better than having such wrong-looking hair in her peripheral vision all day. Once her hair was secured, she opened the door and grabbed her bag. If she hauled ass to the weight room, there would be enough time for some training before breakfast.

\---

“Alright, class. Today we’re starting a new unit.” the teacher picked up a piece of chalk, and Kyla looked up from her sketching, smiling slightly at the words on the board. **Recent History of the Blue Sea**.

“We’ll be covering seven large events in recent history.” the teacher said, turning around to face the class. “One for each sea.”

“But there’s eight seas.” Kyla frowned, sitting up straighter as the teacher and most of the class turned to look at her. “There’s the four Blues, All Blue, the Grand Line, New World, and the Calm Belt.” she counted them off on her fingers, then held up her hands. “Which one aren’t we covering?”

The teacher gave her a dirty look. On either side of her, the Piripi twins giggled. “All Blue is a fairy tale, miss Runa. And the next time you speak out of turn, I’ll be giving you detention.” he turned back to the chalkboard, and Kyla slumped in her seat as he wrote out the seven seas they’d be focusing on. Moana kicked at her seat, and Kyla glared at him.

“What?” she hissed under her breath.

“Do you really believe in that shit?” he whispered back.

“Of course! All Blue is real, I’ve been there.” she crossed her arms and glared at Moana.

“Sure you have.” Moana said condescendingly. “All Blue is a myth.”

“I’ll punch you in the fucking face if you don’t stop talking like that.” Kyla threatened, raising her left hand in a fist.

“Miss Runa, Mr. Pirirpi.” the teacher snapped, and Kyla twisted quickly to face forwards. “Detention after school, both of you.”

Kyla slouched in her seat again and grumbled half-formed insults under her breath. Lousy fucking Marines, cutting into the time she needed to train and seek out cracks in this place’s defenses.

\---

“An F?!” Kalani exclaimed, looking at Kyla’s returned test. “But you said you’d already learnt all this stuff from your aunt!”

“I did.” Kyla frowned, dragging her finger over the numerous red marks. The essay portion was the worst, full of slashes and circles, and her eyes widened. “That dick!” she slammed her test down on Cam’s desk. “I got that essay one hundred percent right, and he’s marked it all wrong!”

Cam picked up the paper, and scanned it briefly. Her face twisted into a confused frown. “Straw Hat Luffy?” she held the paper out for Kyla to take. “He’s the reason Smoker and his men were there, but he had nothing to do with anything the test was about.”

“No, he did.” Kyla glared at the paper in her hand, as if that alone would make it spontaneously combust. Sanji and Zoro could both do it somehow, but sadly she had yet to figure out that particular trick. “Luffy is the one who beat Crocodile, and it was the Straw Hats who protected Princess Vivi long enough for her to stop the war.” she recited, recalling Robin’s neat, carefully handwritten annotations on the worksheet she’d done about Alabasta. “My Aunt Ro was _there_ , and she never lies about history!”

“Well, that’s not even close to what our books say happened.” Amets waved his textbook casually. “Or the newspapers, or anything else.”

“You think the Marines would _admit_ that pirates saved a country and stopped a rogue Shichibukai from taking over?” Kyla stuffed the paper in her pocket. “My Aunty loves history, she’d never lie about it or get something _that_ wrong.”

“Maybe her sources were unreliable.” Kalani suggested in a consoling tone. Kyla let out an exasperated half scream through her teeth, and stormed past the islander pirates out the classroom door. She’d have to be back in a few minutes, but maybe in the meantime she could find something to hit so she didn’t get detention again for punching out another student.

\---

Kyla stood as soon as the bell rang, and realized that her fists were clenched so tight they were actually shaking. “Mr. Capello!” she called out, following on his heels out the door. He paused in the hallway, and turned around at the sound of the doorknob slamming against the wall. His expression settled into an exasperated frown when he saw it was her, and he sighed.

“Yes, Miss Runa?”

“You don’t seriously expect us to believe that video, do you?”

“I expect my students to believe the truth, but I’m coming to realize your delusions are as persistent as they are detailed.”

“But that video is _wrong_.” Kyla insisted. “Where was Red Haired Shanks? What about Straw Hat Luffy? Whitebeard never advanced beyond the courtyard, never mind making it all the way to the execution platform!”

The teacher was straight up glaring now, but Kyla had gotten worse from Marines much more imposing than him. “Miss Runa, the materials used in my classes are all Marine approved, which means that whether or not you agree with what I teach, it is the truth.” he glanced at the doorway, then back at her. “Or are you doubting the organization which feeds and clothes and shelters you.”

“I am.” Kyla nearly yelled, lifting her chin stubbornly. “Most of your units have been awful, but this is the worst yet!”

“Ky, come on, he needs to get to his next class.” Moana grabbed her arm, and she elbowed him in the chest.

“No, he’s going to tell me why that video had more bullshit in it than a bag of fertilizer.”

“Ky.” Kalani grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back. “We know the video is bull, we can badger him about it tomorrow.”

Kyla turned slightly to look at her classmate, eyes widening. “You don’t think I’m lying?”

Mr. Capello scoffed, and started walking away. Kyla let him. She slowly uncurled her fists, and followed the Square Knots back into the classroom. Strangely, most of the class seemed excited rather than irritated by her outburst. Cam, seated on her desk instead of in her seat, flashed them a thumbs up as Moana shut the door.

“Nice going, Ky.” the medic-in-training grinned.

“Yeah.” the girl standing next to Cam laughed. “I knew we could count on you to take him down a peg.”

“What?” Kyla frowned.

“Well, you always complain when he gets facts wrong.” a boy sitting second from the back of the window row said, putting his feet up on his desk. “And we’re all old enough to remember how crazy things got after the War of the Greatest.” he flashed her a smile.

“Think if we all ignore the video and write less fake shit on these worksheets he’ll flunk the whole class?” the kid next to window-boy mused, arms tucked behind his head.

“Noguerra, that would be irresponsible!” a boy front and center chided from his seat on Cam’s left, twisting around to glare at the window boy, probably the Noguerra in question. “Kaya, Cam, back me up on this.”

Kyla startled slightly, hand flying to her hip to grasp at a sword hilt which wasn’t there. Her fingers dug into the white fabric of her uniform shirt, hooking through the loops of worn-soft hidden underneath. There was no way he meant her, right? “Huh?” she managed, curling her right hand into a fist to hide its sudden trembling. If she was found out now, unarmed and so heavily outnumbered, she would never see her home or family ever again.

“No, not you Runa.” the boy said dismissively, reaching out to jab the other front-and-center seat occupant. “Kaya, come on, ”

Kalani snorted, and grabbed Kyla’s elbow. “Come on.” she said in a whisper almost as loud as Luffy’s. “Let’s get back to our seats before we get caught in the lovebirds’ crossfire.”

“We’re not lovebirds!” the left-center boy, Kaya, yelled, making the Square Knot’s navigator giggle.

“Lo~ve bi~rds.” the boy next to Noguerra chimed in, earning a swat to the head. Kyla kept her head down, and pulled her arm out of Kalani’s grasp after a few steps.

“It’s not like I’m gonna get lost.” she muttered, stuffing her hands in her pockets. The thought of Zoro in one of these stupid uniforms popped into her head, and she stifled a laugh. He’d been so scrawny as a teenager, compared to how he was now, but even fifteen year old Zoro was stronger than the guys who used the weight room after school, she’d bet her first sword on that.

Kalani fell gracefully into her chair, and Kyla took her seat as well. The whole class was chattering, save one girl second from the front on the far right side of the room. And Kalani, Kyla realized after a minute. The girl on her right was scribbling something in one of her notebook, a thing far more violently pink than any of the ones in Kyla’s brown bag. “What subject is that?” she asked, tapping her pencil’s eraser against the desk.

“None.” Kalani answered, looking up with a warm smile. “I like to keep notes about things that happen during the day, like weather and interesting things that don’t go in class notes.”

“Oh, so it’s your logbook.” Kyla leaned back in her seat, and smirked at the ceiling. The Square Knots had definitely never been off this island, if their navigator thought that little shouting match was worthy of being put in the logbook. Well, maybe Nami would’ve put it in the logbook too, it was hard to tell sometimes. Robin would be proud of her, at any rate. She was pretty sure about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When Kyla was taken to that salon to get her hair done, she got a relaxer. A relaxer is basically a chemical way to straighten your hair, so this is the first time ever that Kyla’s hair has been anything other than natural. She’s not a fan, but she’s stuck with it. Also, she normally doesn’t care about her grades since they’re not going to be worth anything once she gets home to the Sunny, but she does make an effort in History because Robin has taught her very well that history is important.
> 
> The video about Marineford was a stop-motion film (I’ll let you imagine for yourselves what medium) in the style of an educational documentary. It gave Luffy’s role to about five huge fully grown men, one of whom was Whitebeard himself. They also just straight up removed Shanks from the story, saying the pirates ran away like cowards and Akainu let them because the war was won and they didn’t need to risk any more Marine lives that day.


	28. Age 13: Education Part 9

The clock ticked over to 4 PM, and Kyla was out the door in a flash. Thank the gods that was over. The chairs were too uncomfortable to meditate in, and sitting still for so long just felt so _unnatural_ if she wasn’t doing something, especially after a rest day. But she was free now, or as near as she could get while trapped in this Marine facility, and there was still almost an hour before the weight room closed so she could still get some training in.

Kyla took the stairs down two and three at a time, boots skidding slightly on the scuffed stone floor as she gripped the post at each balcony and swung herself a hundred and eighty degrees clockwise to maintain as much of her momentum as possible. She spun hard to the left at the bottom of the stairs, skidding over to the right side of the hallway as she launched forward again, and had just enough time to register three uniforms before she crashed into them. They went down, hard, and Kyla was glad of her shorts as she shifted to sit up and rub her stinging knee. She looked again as her unfortunate victims got to their feet, and a scowl worked its way onto her face instantly. The class dickheads and their lackey. Great, there went her good mood.

“Watch where you’re going, pirate.” the boy snapped, glaring at her in a way which would probably be intimidating to an islander.

“How about you walk on the right side of the hall, assface?” Kyla bit back, getting to her feet in a single fluid motion.

“Oh, Pere, I think she’s insulting you.” the girl sneered, rising from a crouch and dusting off her skirt.

“Of course she is, Carme.” the boy, Pere, scoffed. “She’s a pirate, like her stupid friends. Isn’t that right, Lehua?”

“Absolutely.” the darker, heavy set girl nodded her head. Kyla spared her a disdainful look before focusing her attention back on the future Marines.

“Please, like I have to be a pirate to see you’re both jackasses.” Kyla spat, rolling her eyes. She made to step around them, get the most weight room time she could, but before she made it three steps the paler girl grabbed her by the arm.

“Would you like to repeat that?” Carme asked, her tone icy. Kyla had heard worse, though.

“I said you’re both colossal fuck wads, and I have better things to do than talk with you.” Kyla snapped, pulling her arm free. Something like an itch in the back of her head urged her to start a fight, draw the improvised knife in her pocket and make them pay for their words, but she ignored that impulse. They may be jerks, but they were just kids. They didn’t deserve to die.

“Hey!” Pere grabbed her hair, and yanked hard enough to make her scalp sting. “Did I say you could leave?”

Kyla spun on her heel, and Carme barked out a high, sharp yiyiyi laugh. “Stupid pirates don’t know any better, Pere.” she smirked, and lifted her right hand as if to inspect her blue and white painted nails. “Why don’t you and Lessy teach her a lesson?”

Leshua nodded quickly, and dropped the three brown bags in her arms to step up next to Pere. “Ugh, you idiot!” Carme snapped, “If my lotion spilled, you’re paying to replace it.”

Leshua nodded again, looking more ashamed this time, and Kyla crossed her arms. “You’re not even worth fighting.” she scowled, and hopped back out of their reach before turning to start walking away..

“Oh, is the pirate gonna run away?” Leshua teased. “How like one of Piripi’s lackeys, all bark and no bite.”

Kyla rolled her eyes. She wasn’t even a Square Knot, did they really think they’d get a rise out of her like that?

“Nah.” Pere drawled. “How like a _pirate_. Even their stupid King turned tail and ran at Marineford.”

Kyla froze, one foot barely lifted from the ground, and clenched her teeth. She’d promised to be safe, and that meant not revealing her identity, but she couldn’t just let an insult as grievous as that slide. “Say that again.” she growled, grabbing the sharpened cafeteria knife but not drawing it from her left pocket.

“Oh, did I hit a nerve?” Pere smirked, smug as anything. “I was just saying, pirates are all talk until you challenge them to a fight. And out of all of them, that so called pirate king is the worst.” he paused to smile, bright and sharp and a pale shadow of the smile that crossed Zoro’s face when he found a worthy opponent. “I mean, if he was really the strongest man in the seven seas, he would’ve been able to actually save that Firefist guy.”

Kyla drew her knife, flashed it with the strongest armament haki she was capable of, and broke into a run. The other girls yelled something, and Pere staggered back a few steps, but Kyla barely registered any of that over the rushing in her ears. She leapt into the air a fair few feet from the loud-mouthed Marine boy, and the word _Furaribi_ came out of her mouth at a roar. Heat erupted in and around her left hand, she gripped her wrist with her right, and brought her dagger down on Pere’s face. It sank into the skin just under his eye, and she ripped it down until the blade pierced his chest. Sinking to one knee was the most graceful landing she could manage in these close quarters, and her blade’s progress down to his upper thigh was accompanied by pained howls.

Kyla stood, leaping back, and held her knife out to deflect any attacks that might follow. Her eyes should have stayed focused on her enemies, the ones who would say such terrible and absolutely untrue things about her family, but after a single heartbeat she was distracted by the flickering coming from her hand. Specifically, her little improvised plastic dagger. The haki which shone over it was jet black, like sensei’s or mom’s or even the captain’s, and the heat licking at the side of her thumb and index finger was flames. Dying flames, which sputtered out in a few short seconds, but flames nonetheless. Huh, that explained why Pere was kinda on fire. And still screaming, she should probably do something about that before teachers arrived.

Kyla released the haki on her knife, grimaced at the splattering of blood on the left shoulder of her uniform shirt, and closed the small distance between her and the bullies. “Shut it, you big baby.” she snapped, glaring at Pere.

“What the fuck did you do to him, you crazy pirate bitch?!” Carme yelled, surging to her feet and leaving Leshua to try to pat out the flames.

The half-truth came to her lips, and Kyla started talking before she could overthink it. “When I was a kid, the Pirate King and his crew saved my life.” she said evenly, keeping eye contact with her pale-faced classmate. “Next time I hear one of you idiots shit-talking them, I’ll aim for the neck.” she brushed past Carme, whose face was practically bloodless at this point, and paused after a few steps. “Oh, and of course, if you tell the Marines what really happened, I’ll make sure you both match your idiot friend over there.” Kyla looked over her shoulder, and smiled as brightly as she could. “Have a nice day.”

Carme whimpered, and Kyla almost giggled as she ducked into the girls’ bathroom just before the doors. She couldn’t just walk out covered in blood without a reason, and a minor head wound was a small price to pay for her continued relative safety here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, man, this was almost as much fun to write as tiny Sanji putting a man's eyes out. So, yeah. Of all the things Kyla has learnt from Luffy, chill is not one of them. If you insult her, she can decide what's worth starting a fight over and what's not. If you insult her family when they're not around to make that decision for themselves, well... yeah.
> 
>  _Furaribi_ is a flaming bird from Japanese mythology, which I figured was an appropriate title for an aerial fire move. Kyla had several months on the Sunny to train independently, and she’s started personalizing her moveset. This move is similar to Zoro’s _Hiryū: Kaen_ , which she’s never actually seen in action, and in fact was never taught because he hadn’t gotten around to teaching her how to ignite her swords yet.


	29. Age 13: Education Part 10

Kyla exhaled slowly, and laid down on her back. Lani’s objection to her training in the room was completely unreasonable, really. She’d only destroyed the end of her own bed a little bit, and only because she had been adjusting to the space available while swinging around real swords. Really, where else was she supposed to practice? She wasn’t even allowed to carry her swords around, let alone draw them to practice with! A frustrated snarl resonated in the back of her throat, and she pushed against the scuffed and dusty hardwood to propel herself under the bed.

Her first sword was the first one she drew from its hiding spot between the mattress springs, and some of the tight frustration in her chest dissipated as she laid the weapon across her stomach. She still had her weapons, and that was the important thing. So long as she waited until her roommate was asleep to begin, the paler girl couldn’t call the Marines on her and she could continue training. Once Sengo and Hibiki were also rested on her haramaki, she gripped the edge of the bed and dug her boot heels into the floorboards, pulling herself out from under the bed.

Tonight felt like a good night to start with Santoryu and work down, so she hung all three on her hip and drew them one at a time. It would’ve been better to have something to strike, even a mop jammed in a bucket would do, but explaining that away would be more trouble than it was worth so her imagination would have to serve.

Two hours later her jaw was stiff as hell, and make a very gratifying little pop as she worked it side to side. Hibiki’s weight was as familiar on her hip as it was in her mouth, and she imagined a new Marine in the empty air in front of her. This one looked like an older Carme, with a scar marring her pale face and continuing down her chest until it disappeared into the uniform. Sengo hummed in her hand, and Kyla grinned as she swung. So long as she didn’t will the air into compressed blades she could practice most of her Nitoryu forms without damaging the room, and thankfully Lani was a heavy sleeper so she didn’t need to worry much about waking the other girl.

Another two hours later, Kyla paused and looked at the swords in her hands. She could do an hour of Ittoryu with each, since she used them about equally, but which one to use first? She knew her first sword marginally better, but Sengo had an energy to him which could help her power through the last half hour. And then it would linger for another half, keeping her up even longer. Sengo first, then. She sheathed her first sword, and gripped Sengo’s hilt with both hands. This Marine her imagination conjured up this time was faceless, but wore a coat on his shoulders and held a gun loosely in one hand.

Kyla grinned, and imagined him flinching at the sight of her teeth. She knew where her brain had pulled this man from, and mentally added a pair of scars to one of his arms. Sure he was just imaginary, a pretend target for her to aim at, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be satisfying to lay every single one of her Ittoryu techniques on him a hundred times or so. Well, not _every_ technique, but most of them were doable with the small amount of floorspace she had.

\---

“Ky. Ky!” Kalani snapped her fingers in front of her friend’s face, and the swordswoman jerked in her seat.

“I’m paying attention!” she said quickly, sitting bolt upright.

Kalani sighed, and perched herself on Ky’s desk. “You fell asleep during math. Again.” she frowned, and flicked their newest crewmate in the forehead. Ky scowled, and leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed over her stomach.

“More proof that it’s stupid and boring.” she grumbled, glaring at the workbook she’d fallen asleep on.

“That’s the third time this week.” Moana pointed out, and Kalani knew his concerned frown was identical to her own.

“And?” Ky scowled, glare lifting from her desk and settling on Moana.

“And, you got detention for it. Again.” Kalani huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ky groaned something which was probably a string of curse words, and slumped forward. “This is all _stupid_.” she grumbled, flipping her math book shut and stuffing it in her bag. “I’ve got better shit to do than this.”

“Like maybe sleep for once?” Cam interjected, glaring her ‘I’m a doctor listen to me’ glare. “Whatever you’re losing sleep over probably isn’t worth it.”

Ky’s eyes went hard and cold as steel, and she straightened in her seat. “What?” she snarled, arms uncrossing and left hand going into her shorts pocket.

“You heard me.” Cam didn’t back down, and Kalani seriously hoped that their sellsword wasn’t about to stab their medic or something. Pere had claimed he didn’t remember who attacked him, but the smug look on Ky’s face when he returned to class from the hospital last week had been telling enough. If the dark girl did the same to Cam, there was no way Moana would keep her on the crew.

“I don’t think you realize what you’re suggesting.” Ky stood, left arm shaking slightly, and Kalani slid off the desk so she wouldn’t tip it over.

“What do you _think_ she’s suggesting?” Amets chimed in from his place leaning against Kalani’s desk. “Just curious.”

Ky smirked, and gave him a condescending look. “You’re a swordsman, right?”

“Well, yeah.” Amets grinned.

“How would you feel if this moron told you to stop training during the only time available to you, and sleep instead?” Ky jerked her head towards Cam on the word moron, and Kalani bristled. Who did Runa Ky think she was, insulting her nakama in such a cold tone?

“Hey!” she shoved the shorter girl, and dark eyes with darker smudges under them fixed on her. “Cam’s nakama, don’t talk about her like that.”

“Nakama?” Ky chuckled, but there was no humour in the sound. “Maybe yours, but I’ve already got a family.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Moana stepped in and poked Ky in the shoulder. “Kalani and I have family, and we’ve got our nakama too.”

“Ugh!” Ky pulled her left hand out of her pocket, and reached up over her head as if to grab something before both hands dropped to her right hip to grip at her shirt. “Fucking stupid islanders, that’s what you are.” she snapped, glaring at each of them in turn.

Kalani opened her mouth to snap right back, though what she would say she wasn’t quite sure yet, when a voice from the front of the room stopped her.

“Runa, detention. The rest of you, back to your seats.”

Ky’s fiery gaze swung to the teacher, and her face curled into a sneer as Kalani went back to her seat. “And you call yourselves pirates.”

“Remind me why we let her on the crew?” Amets muttered before returning to his own desk.

Kalani frowned, and pulled out her logbook along with her literature workbook. Ky was just grumpy because she hadn’t been sleeping properly. Their sellsword was usually pretty cheerful on Mondays, but by Friday she was snappy and guaranteed to nod off during class. Obviously the weekend had something to do with it, but what?

Halfway through the period, it hit her. Ky had said something about her only time to train. What with the weapons ban on campus, and how uptight Lani was, their sellsword probably couldn’t practice with her swords except when Lani was asleep or out of the room! She looked over, and Ky was slouched in her seat with her eyes shut, breathing evenly. Kalani pulled an old assignment from her workbook, folded it up into a tight little triangle, and flicked it at Ky’s head.

The swordswoman caught it before it struck her cheek, and levelled a chilling glare at Kalani. “What?” she hissed under her breath, barely audible over the teacher lecturing.

“How long do you train on the weekend?” Kalani whispered back.

Ky blinked a few times, like she was stunned someone would ask her that. “Ten hours on Saturday, then Sunday’s my rest day. Why?”

Kalani grinned. “Why not make your rest day Wednesday, and shift your practice hours around so you can get a full night’s sleep three times a week?”

Ky smiled back, a small, tentative thing that barely even brought out her dimples. “You don’t know how a training schedule works, do you?”

“No, but I know you could totally move your Wednesday practice hours to Sunday and still get a full night’s sleep.” Kalani sat back and twirled her pencil, then made a mark on the night’s homework as the teacher said the answer. “And then you’d be less grumpy on Thursday and Friday.”

“See, that’d only work if I had ten hours to train on Tuesdays.” Ky shrugged. “I’ll catch up on my sleep once I get back to Ialst.”

Kalani frowned. “I still can’t believe your family just left you there.”

“Miss Runa, Miss Piripi.” the teacher snapped, and Kalani whipped around to face forwards.

“Yes?” she squeaked. Of all their teachers, Mr. Andreu was the biggest hardass when it came to enforcing rules in class.

“Anything the pair of you would like to share with the rest of us?”

Kalani opened her mouth to say no, but Ky beat her to the punch. “Just telling Kalani how schedules work.” she said smoothly, shooting Kalani a disdainful look. Most of the class sniggered, including Moana, and Kalani felt her face heat.

“You’re the one who can’t manage to schedule in time to sleep, you dolt!” she snapped back, kicking across the aisle to jar her friend’s desk.

“Can either of you tell me what I was just talking about?” Mr. Andreu asked, sounding incredibly fed-up.

“Uh, probably something that’ll never come up in real life?” Ky supplied.

“The early works of Murasaki Shikibu!” Kalani said quickly, glancing briefly down at the page her workbook was open to. “Specifically, Genji Monogatari and the significance of the author using her own family name for the main character of her premiere novel.”

“Very good, Miss Piripi.” Mr. Andreu nodded, and she exhaled heavily. Having detention with Ky would make it significantly harder to keep the project hidden from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla really should be sleeping more, but being trained by Zoro has instilled her with more work ethic than common sense.


	30. Age 13: Education Part 11

“Freedom!” Moana laughed, punching his hands in the air as he kicked the door open and leapt over the threshold into late afternoon sunlight.

Kyla rolled her eyes, and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Whatever you wanna show me had better be worth sacrificing my weight room time.”

“It is, I promise.” Moana smiled, and managed to look just as dumb and innocent as Luffy. Kyla wondered if it was a captain thing, or just a trait the two happened to share. He lead her across the wide lawn, and Kyla paused at the edge of the trees. Unlike Zoro, she did have a sense of direction, but hers only worked so long as she was on city streets or had a landmark to orient herself to.

Moana turned around after a few steps, and grinned mischievously. “What, is our big bad sellsword scared of the woods?”

“No.” Kyla drew herself up to her full height, and started after him. “Just assessing my surroundings. For all I know you could be leading me into an ambush.”

He laughed at that, and tucked the hand not holding his brown bag into the pocket of his shorts. “If I was, that’d make me a pretty shit captain even by pirate standards. You may be an ass sometimes, but you’re nakama.”

“I’m only an ass when someone else starts it.” Kyla rebutted, deliberately avoiding the latter statement. These islanders weren’t her family, and couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that nakama meant more than crewmate, which she wasn’t anyways. They weren’t strangers or enemies either, she’d been dragged to sit with them at lunch enough times to realize that, but they weren’t her nakama and they certainly weren’t her crew.

“Suuure.” Moana spun to grin at her, lazy and almost smug, and kept walking backwards.

“What’s that face for?”

“Nothin.” Moana chuckled, and turned to face forward again. His foot promptly caught on a fallen tree branch, and he yelped as he went down flailing. Kyla snorted, and hopped over the branch to grin down at him.

“This is why we watch where we’re going.”

“Ass.” he huffed, pushing himself to his feet and dusting dead leaves off his white uniform shirt. These trees were nowhere near as big as the ones around the Square Knot fort out on the cliff, but the fallen branch was still easily as thick around as her waist. Kyla glanced up, but couldn’t see which tree it had come from. “C’mon, it’s this way.” Moana said confidently, and started walking again.

“How can you tell?” Kyla asked, batting away droning insects.

“I’ve been out here a few times to help get it ready.” Moana shrugged. They walked in silence for another minute, then he grinned wide as they stepped into a small clear-ish space. “I got her!” he called loudly, and three blurs of white and Marine blue dropped down from the trees. Of course it was a trap, she should’ve known better than to trust a pirate captain who wasn’t so much as allied with her own. She had both fists coated in armament haki and the nearest assailant grabbed by the necktie before she registered any more than that. Kyla drew back her free hand to drive their nose into their skull, but paused as they started laughing a very distinct kinenene.

“Kalani?!” Kyla shoved the girl away, letting her haki dissipate before rounding on the other three uniformed teens. “What the actual fuck!?” Moana looked dumbfounded, while Amets seemed sheepish and Cam was failing miserably at hiding her laughter. Behind her, Kalani was practically howling.

“I- Amets said-” Moana fumbled for words, and Kyla fixed him with a glare.

“Surprise?” the swordsman offered, and Cam snorted.

“Sorry.” she said, though her grin was unrepentant. “These boys are terrible at planning.”

“Must be a captain thing.” Kyla mused. “My big bro is about as dumb as a rock.”

“Might just be a brother thing.” Kalani sniggered, and Moana clipped the back of her head with a loose fist.

“You’re the one who insisted on jumping down right in front of her!”

Kalani pulled herself more or less upright, and Kyla had to admit it was a bit impressive how she stopped laughing almost entirely before she spoke. “Yeah, because I knew she wouldn’t smash my face in.” she took a step forward, and Kyla stiffened slightly as Kalani draped an arm over her shoulders. “I’m too cute for her to maim, right?”

Kyla shrugged, and it took longer than it should’ve for her to formulate a response to such an innocuously teasing question. “I mean, I didn’t even realize it was you until you started laughing.” she mustered up a vicious smile, the kind usually reserved for Marines and bounty hunters who had hurt her family, and tilted her head slightly towards Kalani before lowering her voice to a stage whisper. “I would’ve put your nose into your brain otherwise, to be perfectly honest.”

Kalani started laughing again at that, and the arm around Kyla’s shoulders pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Like you could actually do that.”

Kyla glanced at Cam, who had stopped laughing and was giving her a wary look. As a medic, she was probably trying to figure out if Kalani’s life had actually been in danger. The freckled girl flashed her best predatory smirk ever so briefly, then slung an arm around Kalani’s back and faked a laugh as best she could. “You’re right, I may just be a sellsword but even I’m not dumb enough to kill one of the crew that hired me.” she straightened up after a minute, and looked around the small clearing.

There were some shorter trees on the edges, twisted and bent from lack of sun but with branches spaced perfectly for climbing because of it. A tire swing hung from one of them, a stack of rough wooden folding stools leaned against another, and the Square Knot flag had been nailed up on one of the taller trees. The space was probably about as big as the room she shared with Nami and Robin on the Sunny, and with the five of them present it was almost cozy. “So, why’re we here?” Kyla dropped her arm from around Kalani’s back, and the navigator’s arm slid from her shoulder, leaving a strip of skin under her shirt which felt curiously burning hot and simultaneously colder than the rest of her torso.

“Runa Ky, welcome to the Square Knot branch fort.” Moana said, gesturing to the clearing with a flair Usopp would’ve been proud of. “Since you can’t come hang out with us at the main fort after school, we designated this our super-secret base. Now we can hang out without being in one of the school buildings!”

“And, since we’re on Marine property and didn’t ask permission or anything, it’s technically illegal.” Amets grinned.

Kyla chuckled, and rested her left hand over the empty shinai loops hidden under her shirt. They’d gone to the trouble of bringing in all these things to include her in their play-pretend piracy, like she was actually a member of their nakama. It was actually a little touching, especially considering she shouldn’t mean anything to them. Hell, she’d already stolen and wrecked their ship and demanded they pay her to hang out with them, and they were _still_ treating her like this?

It didn’t make sense, unless they somehow actually thought of her as one of their crew, which was so stupid it was- actually possible. They were, after all, islander kids. They had no clue how a real pirate crew worked, they were running on rumour and hearsay and the propaganda rag the Marines and World Government called a newspaper.

“Do you like it?” Kalani asked, and Kyla’s stomach did a funny little flip when she realized the navigator had grabbed her by the arm.

“It’s great!” she nodded a few times and pasted on a smile. “You guys shouldn’t have.”

“Well, it didn’t feel right to have only most of the crew at the fort.” Amets smiled brightly, seating himself in the tire swing.

Kyla ducked her head, and let her hair fall forward to curtain her face and hide the small smile she couldn’t suppress. They weren’t nakama, and never would be, but gods be damned if the Square Knots weren’t the best friends she’d ever had.


	31. Age 13: Education Part 12

“So.” Amets plopped down in his seat, lunch bouncing slightly in its tray. “Kendo team tryouts are today.”

“Whee.” Kyla said as unenthusiastically as she could manage, prodding her overcooked noodles with a fork.

“Glad you’re enthusiastic.” Moana grinned, sitting down next to the taller boy. “Because I put your name on the sign-up sheet.”

“You what?!” Kyla’s head whipped up, and she fixed a death glare on the wavy-haired teen. “If you’re not joking, I will drive this plastic piece of shit through your eyeball.” she angled the fork towards his face, and Kalani snorted as she set her tray down on the young pirate’s right side.

“I wish.” the paler girl huffed, carefully sweeping her skirt forward before sitting down. “He slapped my name on the debate team list. I don’t even like public speaking.”

“You sure?” Cam leaned forward on Kyla’s left and poked Kalani with her spoon. “Cuz you never seem to shut up when we’re hanging out.”

“That’s different.” the taller twin groaned, head hanging back. “But yes, Kyla, please do put his eye out. That’ll make archery much harder for him.”

“I didn’t sign up for archery!” Moana spluttered.

“Yeah, I did it for you.” Cam smiled sweetly, and Kyla went back to prodding her noodles. No amount of hot sauce could remedy this dish, but she’d eat the whole thing anyways. She’d paid for it, after all, and it was food on top of that.

“ _I_ am going to go out for track and field.” Cam continued, digging her spoon into the homemade lunch she’d brought.

“Uh, you’ve got asthma though?” Moana frowned.

“Precisely.” Cam ginned, and Kyla was reminded of Nami. “All you have to do is prove you tried out. If I join any clubs, they’ll cut into my actual training.”

“Back to the point.” Amets said as forcefully as one could with a mouth half full of breadsticks. “I was gonna ask Ky to come with me to tryouts for moral support, since she’s actually in a decent mood today, but I guess that’s a moot point now.” he swallowed and grinned.

“Do I have to?” the dark teen groaned, swallowing a forkful of mushy noodles with bland marinara sauce.

“We’re in year eight now.” Kalani waved her fork, a cherry tomato impaled on the end. “All eighth year students must participate in an extracurricular activity, or provide proof of an attempt to join.” she recited in a mocking drone, then stuck the tomato in her mouth. “One of those dumb rules so we don’t have enough time to run around fucking shit up after school.”

“Short answer, yes.” Moana grinned, leaning over the table to flick his twin in the forehead. “And I took it upon myself to ensure we’ll all have enough free time to maintain both our fort and our sellsword.”

“Still, you couldn’t’ve picked a sport?” Kalani grumbled, swatting her brother’s hand away.

“Idunno about you guys,” Amets took a bite of his breadstick and swallowed it almost whole. “But I hope I actually make the team. Sensei Kimura says it’ll help me get strong even faster.”

Kyla sighed, and forced another forkful of pasta into her mouth. She had to get out of here sooner than later.

\---

Unfortunately, ‘sooner’ was not before the final bell, when Amets grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her down to the school dojo. Moana tagged along after them, then kept going through the dojo to the archery range outside. It was pretty amazing how many sports there were here, but then again, this was a Marine institution. On some level, the freckled girl sort of understood it. The Marines wanted all their soldiers to be able to fight, and so they offered sports which were either combat based, or strengthened desirable skills.

Amets dropped his bag against the wall, and Kyla did the same. Really, she’d rather be in the weight room, getting back in the rhythm after her rest day yesterday, but if she had to fail out of a club then she’d fail out fast. Sadly, they were going alphabetically by family name rather than taking volunteers for who tried out when, and the thought flashed through her head as she looked at the other kids lined up against the wall with her that if they used her actual family name, she’d be waiting here a fair bit longer. Of the fifteen kids before Ochoa Amets was called, five had the swords knocked right out of their hands. Six managed to block a few strikes before meeting the same fate, and another four actually landed blows. Amets pointed out the four who landed blows as his peers under Mr. Kimura, along with the second kid with nothing but defense.

Kyla yawned, and her left hand drifted to where her swords usually hung. These kids were all tepid, uninteresting. As Amets was called up to take on apparently the weakest member of the team, the one who had been defeating every kid so far in under five strikes, her eyes drifted to where the twelfth years were sparring. One boy in particular looked exceptionally good, and the girl opposite him equally so. They wore no masks or protective clothing, like the boy Amets was currently facing down, and their footwork wasn’t bad.

“Mr. Shizuka.” she thrust her hand in the air and waved it, demanding the teacher’s attention. “Can I fight one of them?” she pointed at the sparring upperclassmen, and once the adult’s eyes had finished following her finger he chuckled.

“That’s Miss Kaur Mina and Mr. De-Witt Jeroen. They’re the best kendo fighters in this school.” he said it condescendingly, and Kyla crossed her arms before attempting to imitate the face Nami made when Luffy tried to weasel his way out of laundry duty.

“Obviously. That’s why I wanna fight one of ‘em.” she lifted her left arm and flicked it outward from the elbow, letting her hand fall palm up. “If I can’t beat them, then you guys are serious business.”

The kid in protective gear cried out happily, and Kyla glanced over to see Amets had made him drop his sword. Star pupil indeed. Guy was probably ecstatic to have found somebody actually competent. “Pajari Eija, you’re up.” he laughed, picking up his toy sword again. “Sensei Shizua, I think Ochoa’s made it.”

“Mr. Ochoa, wait with the others.” the teacher said coolly, not so much as glancing at the tanned boy. Kyla grinned wide though, and flashed him a thumbs up. The club may be a bit juvenile for her, but to that nerd it was probably the best place in the world to hone his skills. “Miss Runa, I’m afraid I cannot allow you to face my best students unless you first prove yourself against Mr. Quinlan first.”

“So if I beat that dolt, I can face one of them?” she nodded her head at the pair of almost-adults, who were now whispering to each other and giggling.

“I suppose I could allow that.” the teacher frowned. “Kaur, De-Witt, would either of you be willing to face this girl?”

The girl looked Kyla up and down, then shook her head. “I don’t fight little kids.”

“I’ll take her.” the white haired boy smirked, lifting the wooden sword from his shoulder and twirling it casually. Compared to watching Zoro fight, it was like a watering can next to a thunderstorm.

“Runa Ky.” the masked boy called, and Kyla grinned.

“Hell yeah!” she turned away from the teacher and bounced over to the taped out square of combat on the floor, grabbing the wooden sword that Eija had dropped as soon as it was within reach. “So all I gotta do is disarm you or force you out of the circle?” she spun the practice blade, gauging its weight. It was much lighter than the ones back on the Sunny, far too frail to land more than a few real hits. It wasn’t a shinai either, slightly longer and way more rounded, which would probably interfere with any special attacks that utilised the blade. But she could work around that.

“That’s right.” the masked boy nodded.

“And I can fight however I want.” she clarified, settling both hands on the wooden sword’s hilt.

“Correct.” Mr. Shizua said coolly. “But please try not to injure any of my students.”

“Kick his ass, Ky!” Amets called from the sidelines, and the young pirate turned to give him a razor sharp grin.

“Rule one.” her first opponent said in an almost teasing tone. “Never-”

“Take your eye off the enemy.” Kyla grinned as she finished the age-old saying, easily sidestepping his sluggish thrust and twisting her arms to align the tip of the wooden sword with his sternum. His eyes went wide behind the mask, and she gripped the hilt firmly. “ _Taka Tsume_.” she breathed, and thrust the wooden weapon into his chest.

The kid flew backwards, and as he went Kyla straightened up into a relaxed stance. Man, she’d kinda hoped for that to last long enough she would be able to shave a few minutes off her training tonight. He kept screaming after he hit the ground, and the freckled pirate stifled a giggle. She could laugh at the dumb look on his face later, right now she wanted a fight. “So.” she turned to the teacher and swung the wooden sword behind her back, grabbing the blade and rocking from her heels to toes and back again. “Do I get to fight Jeroen now?” she grinned wide, and the only sound in the room was Quinlan-whatshisface swearing loudly as Jeroen and Mina helped him to his feet.

“I think-”

“You’re on!” the older boy interrupted the teacher with a grin, and Kyla hopped back a few steps as he approached, sword in hand. “Anybody who can send Cahir flying in one hit is definitely good enough to take me on.” he stepped into the taped square, and Kyla forced herself to remain in a relaxed stance. She did release the sword’s rounded blade from her right hand, though.

“Go on, just try an’ hit me.” she grinned, shifting her weight imperceptibly to her toes. “Betcha can’t.”

His swings were far less telegraphed than the last guy’s, but even without that lead dodging him was easy. He wasn’t shit, his movements were precise and graceful, but the guy was predictable. Left up right left down thrust thrust repeat. It got boring after the third set of thrusts, and she made a show of placing her hand over her mouth to yawn before gripping the hilt of the practice sword tight and ducking his first thrust. The dodge gave her enough momentum to roll behind him, and she popped to her feet with ease. He swore and spun on his heel, bringing his sword up to guard, but too late.

“ _Tanduma_.” she smiled, making her tone and expression as sweet as she knew how as the sword came down on his shoulder. There was an odd sound, and then Jeroen started screaming. He dropped his sword, clutched at his shoulder, and oh yeah she knew what was going on now. Wow, this guy was a wimp. “What?” she twirled the toy sword with a smug smirk and rested it on her shoulder. “Never had you shoulder dislocated before?” she rolled her left shoulder, making the sword bounce as she remembered the first time she deliberately jumped from the crow’s nest. Yeah she’d cried a lot while Chopper had popped it back into place, but she’d been just a kid at the time.

“You little bitch!” the older teen spat, clutching his shoulder as he staggered to his feet. “I oughtta-”

“Mr. De-Witt.” the teacher barked, commanding the slack-jawed attention which had been trained on Kyla. “Miss Runa will be facing disciplinary action, but if you don’t receive medical attention immediately your arm could be permanently damaged. Miss Kaur can help you to the nurse’s office.”

His cold eyes fixed on Kyla, and the child felt a thrill run through her. She lifted her right hand and made a beckoning motion, letting her cherubic grin slide closer to the one her mom got when picking a fight with her sensei. The wooden sword in her hand wouldn‘t withstand more than four more blows at full strength, and she could tell that even coated in her strongest clear armament haki it would split in two if she tried to use _Taka Tsume_ again, leaving her with a splintery stub. Whether before or after sending the grown-up flying, that she couldn’t tell. She’d have to actually fight smart this time, and hope the sword could hold up under pressure long enough. Well, unless she used her best haki, but these guys didn’t honestly seem worth the effort.

As the teacher picked up Jeroen’s fallen sword, Kyla started bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her blood was singing despite the lack of an actual blade in her hands, and her skin tingled. This wasn’t going to be anywhere near a mastery test, they were only using one practice sword each, but it had been so long since she had somebody to earnestly fight.

“Just so you know, Miss Runa.” the teacher assumed his stance, eyes hard. “You will be disciplined for injuring two of my students. But first, I will punish you personally.”

The dark girl laughed, and flicked her ponytail back over her shoulder with a toss of her head. “I’d like to see you try, old man.” the thought flicked through her mind that she could probably goad him into using real swords, but hers were tucked away in her room and the thought of using a borrowed blade made her stomach twist uncomfortably so she dismissed the thought. Wooden swords would have to do, though she’d already coated the one in her hands with invisible armament haki to make sure it didn’t break before she could win.

Mr. Shizuka moved more naturally than Jeroen, and his attacks had as much force behind them as the wooden swords could take without incurring damage. But still, Kyla could hold her own against the World’s Greatest for almost thirty seconds on a good day. Compared to her training, these blows were slow and weak, and she blocked each one with ease. The freckled pirate laughed against as she danced back from a particularly jarring strike, sidestepping and ducking to dodge the next thrust and swing. “You’re not half bad, teach.” she conceded, blocking the next strike before hopping sideways and darting back to the middle of the square. “But my sensei hits way harder than you ever will.”

The teacher said nothing, and lifted his blade for a thrust. Even without using observation haki it had only taken her fifteen seconds to find a weakness in this guy’s form, and that weakness was in the exact thrust now aimed at her head. His right elbow came up just an inch and a half too high in the instant before he moved the sword forward, and as he drew back this time she ducked in towards him. He leapt backwards, which meant he was likely aware of his own weaknesses, but it was a futile gesture. As he lifted his arms to clear her head, Kyla twisted her torso and swung as hard as she could. The sword struck his wrists with enough force to make something crack, and she yanked his weapon from his momentarily loosened grip.

The teacher’s sword was heavier, closer to what she was used to, and Kyla grinned as he backed away a step, giving her fraction of a second she needed to assume a proper stance. Two practice swords felt a lot more familiar, even if one of them was far too fragile and both so much lighter than what she used on the Sunny. She released her haki coating on the weaker blade, and shifted her hand to a one-handed grip. “Gotcha.” she laughed, spinning the second sword to get it into the proper position. Now her enemy was defenseless, and if she came at him just right she could probably throw him out the door and into the archery kids.

Angling her wrists, she pointed both blades to her right and formed the name of the attack near soundlessly. She’d seen this technique kill, and as fun as it had been to toss around those upperclassmen nobody here had done anything bad enough to warrant death. So she shaped the word _Nigiri_ with barely a breath, and when she swung the swords cut in under Mr. Shizuka’s guard to make solid contact with the side of his ribs. He flew almost as impressively as Quinlan Cahir had, landing just inside the door with a crash loud enough to startle Moana into hitting the lower edge of his target rather than undershooting.

Had she been holding her own swords, Kyla would’ve wiped the blood off against her haramaki and sheathed them back on her hip. But she wasn’t holding her own swords, she was holding two great big clunky wooden sticks, so she simply set the more damaged one gently on the floor and shouldered the other as she walked towards her defeated opponent. He was getting back to his feet already, though holding a hand to his side and wincing as he did so. She’d probably left a bruise. “Here you go, Mr. Shizuka.” Kyla spun the wooden practice sword and held it out to him hilt first.

He accepted it with a bewildered look, and she smiled wide. “I don’t think I’ll be joining your little play-club.”

“How did you learn to fight like that?” the adult asked after a long second of silence.

Kyla grinned and grabbed the uniform’s collar, tugging it sideways until her first scar was visible, a pale line where Zoro’s white sword had bit into her shoulder and almost opened an artery. “My sensei trains me with _real_ swords.” she made her smile as threatening as she knew how and straightened her collar, revelling for a moment in the stunned silence of the room. She’d forgotten just how weak normal people were, living on the Sunny. Kyla flipped her hair over her shoulder again, turned on her heel, and skipped back towards the line of slack-jawed kendo club hopefuls. All eyes followed her as she grabbed her bag, and at the door she paused to look back and give the Square Knot’s swordsman a gleaming smile. “Good luck getting into your silly club, Amets.” she lifted her left hand for a jaunty little wave, and slipped out the door.

Leaning back against the smooth wood, the dark pirate grinned as the dojo erupted into chaotic noise. Everyone was talking over each other, and Runa Ky was the topic of the hour. Everyone would surely know of her prowess by lunch tomorrow, but that was okay. Runa Ky could get all the schoolyard infamy she wanted, so long as Kyla of the Straw Hats remained under the radar.

She pressed a hand over her heart, and willed it to slow down. It really had been too long, if she was so hyped up after such an easy win. But then again... she smiled at the memory of the moment Mr. Shizuka had brought his arms up to guard his head, so sure she would finish the fight with a cheap move like that. Of course, if she’d been holding Sengo and her first sword in that moment...

She curled her hands around invisible hilts and imagined familiar blades cutting through the unarmed teacher’s body, slicing through muscle and organs, severing his spine. She could see it so clearly in her mind’s eye, and it gave her chills. If she’d asked to fight with real swords, spoken the words on the tip of her tongue rather than swallowing them, she wouldn’t have thought before swinging. Instead of pulling the sword from the teacher’s hands, she would have sliced them clean off. Instead of sending him flying, she would have killed an innocent unarmed man in cold blood without a second thought, simply because she’d been bored and gotten too absorbed in the moment. The idea made her feel queasy, and Kyla pushed off from the door to start towards her swords.

What she needed to do was get her mind off the mental image of herself covered in blood again, sticky red splattered across her face and hair, soaking into and staining this ridiculous uniform. She needed to stop thinking about how easily she could kill her way out of here, if she should decide to stray from her code and risk the attention of the Marines. Most of all though, she needed to not wonder if this was what Marines and normal people saw all the time when they looked at pirates like her and her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I've been _waiting_ to post this chapter. It was so much fun to write.
> 
> _Taka Tsume_ is Japanese for Hawk Talon. This is one of the new moves Kyla’s added to her arsenal, and is a favourite of hers for one-on-one Ittoryu. With a real sword, this technique punches a hole in the target where she hits, making it a good finishing move. _Tanduma_ is derived from Tandoku Kuma, which translates to Single Bear, and it is her baby Ittoryu version of Zoro’s _Maguma_. _Nigiri_ is, of course, a canon move. She doesn’t want to actually maim these guys, just prove she’s too good for their club. She could entirely beat them without pulling out the fancy techniques, but she hasn't had a halfway decent fight since the Straw Hats left her on Ialst and my baby is _bored_.


	32. Age 13: Education Part 13

No detention, left half of the room in charge of cleaning the classroom, Amets and Moana both home sick with a flu that Cam was helping her mom make house calls for. Kyla grinned, and walked out the front door towards the wall. Not the gate, but the white brick wall it was set into. If there was a weak spot which was weak enough then she could sneak out later with the astronomy club students, bundle her swords in a towel and claim she was bringing it to sit on like Lani always did, then slip away, break a hole in the wall, and run right down to the docks to find a ship to steal. She’d have to find a water bottle or something since it would take at least a week to get back, maybe bring some snacks too to keep her strength up.

What would she have to do first when she got back? After she cut her hair off and burned the Marine uniform, of course. She’d have to fill in the chalkboard, or Zoro would know right away when they got back that something had happened. Maybe falsify a few dates in the logbook to throw off Nami? Definitely one for the day she got back, saying she’d had an “accident” while training and wound up cutting her hair super short trying to fix the damage. Sanji would probably be worried when they all got back and saw her without her old poof. He’d fuss and ask what had happened, and she- she would have to lie to his face, wouldn’t she?

Kyla stopped, and tapped her armoured hand against the brick again with a sigh. She’d never managed to lie to any of her family before, and here she was planning to hide her kidnapping from them so they wouldn’t- wouldn’t what, worry? They were probably worried about her already, or at least her mom almost definitely was. He’d been all for her coming with one of them, until it was pointed out that they were being challenged by an army so strong and evil that it was widely believed to be a myth, and even then he’d argued that they might try to target the Sunny. He hadn’t relented until Usopp remarked that if anyone was safe surely it would be the girl whose bounty poster named her as Sanji’s Daughter, and even then he’d seemed reluctant to leave her.

Huh, maybe she could leave a bit of a blank spot and claim she’d been kidnapped by Warmonger, but escaped and made her way home? That would impress Zoro for sure, and maybe even show Sanji he didn’t have to worry about her quite so much! She started walking again, tapping the bricks at regular intervals and thinking about what details she’d need to know to make the story convincing. Names, or at least a reason why she didn’t have names. A number of guys, how big and skilled and well armed they were, what sort of ship she’d been taken onto, what her kidnappers had looked like…

She was so absorbed in her thoughts, she almost missed when the impact of her fist on brick made a grating sound instead of a solid thunk. The noise jarred her from musing on whether five Franky-size guys was too unbelievable, and she blinked at the three bricks the side of her fist was resting against. She was fairly well hidden behind some shrubs, and after glancing around to check for guards Kyla strengthened her armament haki and struck the spot again. The bricks cracked, and a grin split her face. Some more methodical smacking sent small cascades of brick-glue stuff raining down, and after a few minutes she had a section of wall which she’d be able to blast through with a single well-placed _Oni Giri_. Now she just had to pack her brown bag with snacks and drinks, wrap her swords in a towel, and wait for tonight.

\---

Not even half an hour after breaking through the wall, Kyla’s left shoulder was hitting the hardwood floor of her dorm room and the door was slamming shut as loud as any cell door she’d ever been shut behind. Not that she’d been shut in many cells in her lifetime, but still, it was a pretty loud slam. She sat up, rubbed her shoulder, and glared at the wooden door. She could probably set it on fire, if she put her hand up to it and got angry enough. No, that wouldn’t work, the rage had to be channeled through a weapon in order to manifest as flames. And even if she did burn the door open, there was no way she was getting out again tonight. She’d never be able to use the astronomy club to sneak out again, either. Not now that the Marines knew she’d used it as cover.

Kyla groaned, and fell over onto her back. How the hell had it all gone tits up? She’d been running down the street, dodging through late night shoppers and couples on mid-week dates, and suddenly she’d been on scraped hands and knees on the sidewalk with her head spinning. She hadn’t tripped, her balance was too good for that. Had she been struck? It would neatly explain the ache of a fresh bruise on the back of her head, and the missing seconds between running and being on the ground could easily be attributed to a head wound.

She frowned, and shut her eyes to better concentrate. What had she been doing before the gap? Running, weaving through stupid islanders, her three swords knocking a familiar beat against her leg with each stride. She’d been passing a restaurant, ducked around a pair of women in Marine uniforms, and then- Kyla let out an exasperated growl, and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Had she grazed one of them? No, she could recover from a minor collision like that as effortlessly as drawing her swords. Kyla dug her fingers into her forehead, lifted her head, and slammed it back against the floorboards in frustration. The aching bruise spiked with pain, and she pressed her skull harder against the dinged and dented wood. If she could just _remember_ , she would know what not to do tomorrow!

Warmth seeped out from the most painful part of the bruise, and Kyla realized after a moment that it was blood. She’d split the slightly swollen bit of her scalp open, and now was bleeding onto the floor. Fuck, and it was going to keep bleeding too, since it was a head wound. She groaned, and slowly sat up. Blood immediately trickled down the back of her neck, and soaked into the collar of her uniform shirt. Weird, that it was lying flush against her skin again after that Marine lady had grabbed her by it.

Kyla was in the bathroom with her shirt halfway unbuttoned before her brain fully processed that thought, but when it did she almost tore the remaining buttons off reaching up to touch the now damp fabric. She’d been grabbed by one of the Marine ladies, and then-

_A slightly sticky hand against the nape of her neck, an unfamiliar voice teasing “Where you headed in such a hurry?”_

_A snapped “Home, lemme go.”_

_A well-meaning “Where’s that? We’ll walk you, it’s late.”_

_An unthinking “Ialst, leggo!”_

_Running, two voices yelling, the sharp pain of the backside of a sword against her skull, the sting of hitting the ground._

Kyla winced as she recalled the impact, and went back to unbuttoning her shirt. Next time, she needed to avoid nosy Marines, which would be a whole lot easier if the town wasn’t halfway built around a base.

\---

Kalani glanced up at the sound of somebody approaching their hidden little branch fort, and a smile immediately came to her face when she saw Ky step into the clearing rather than one of their other nakama. It vanished just as quickly though, because Ky was wearing her haramaki over her uniform and looked pissed as all hell, and that meant she’d tried to leave school grounds without getting permission again.

“Marines are fucking stupid.” the darker girl spat, storming over to the tree Kalani was sitting in and throwing herself into the tire swing which Moana had hung from an exceptionally sturdy branch.

“What’d you try this time?” Kalani looked back down at her book, but her eyes were focused on Ky slowly swinging and spinning in her peripheral vision. “Out through the gate, or over the wall?”

“Over.” Ky groaned, gripping the rope and hanging backwards with a groan until she was close to horizontal. Kalani wondered if her hair was dragging on the ground.

“This makes, what, a few dozen attempts now?” Kalani teased, tucking the inner bit of her book’s dust jacket in between the pages as a bookmark and resting the closed book on her lap.

“Something like that.” Ky said bitterly, lowering one of her legs to rest her heel on the ground and somehow pivoting around it so she was looking right at Kalani. “Why do you care?”

Kalani looked at the cover of her book. Ky asked stupid questions like that all the time, but it still made something in her chest twinge whenever she heard her nakama talking that way. “Nothing, really, just...” she paused briefly, looking for the right words. “Why are you so determined to get off of Yabus?”

“I have to get back.” Ky answered, so fast it had to be automatic. “If I’m not there when they come for me...” she trailed into silence, head tilting sideways so she was looking at the tree’s trunk instead of up at Kalani. Her face pulled into a frown, and Kalani shifted her grip on her book to one handed before sliding off the branch and landing on the ground in a crouch.

“ _If_ they come back, you mean.” she said firmly, crossing her arms. In her book, any mother who would leave their child on an uninhabited island wasn’t worthy of raising someone like Ky. Her friend, her _nakama_ , deserved better.

“What?” Ky blurted, sitting up and spinning back around to the tire swing’s native orientation, so they were facing each other.

I mean, you were alone for a couple months, right?” Kalani asked, keeping her tone gentle. “If they were going to come back for you, they would’ve done so long before the guys who brought you here even arrived.”

Ky shot to her feet, and her left hand grabbed at the empty loops on her haramaki where Kalani supposed her swords were meant to go. “That’s a filthy lie!” she shouted, but her voice cracked on the last word. “My mom loves me, just like the rest of my family. I got left behind for my own protection.”

Kalani tucked her book in the back of her waistband, reached out, and caught Ky’s right hand between her own. If Ky stopped obsessing over returning to Ialst, she’d certainly be happier. "How much could they have really loved you if they left you alone on an uninhabited island?" Kalani asked, holding Ky’s gaze.

The freckled girl’s eyes widened, shock and grief and _hurt_ flashing across her pretty features. Then her forehead furrowed, eyebrows drawing down and closer together as her eyes narrowed. Before Kalani could ask what was wrong, she was flat on her ass and looking up at one spectacularly angry swordswoman. Her right cheek stung like a motherfucker, and she realized she’d just been punched. Ky had just punched her? That didn’t make sense, they were nakama, but Ky was standing over her with clenched trembling fists and tears in her eyes. Her left fist was weirdly dark up to just beyond the wrist, with a splash of bright red across the knuckles. Blood, that was blood, her blood? Kalani looked down at her shirt and oh yeah, that was her blood alright. Cam would know why there was so much of it, probably, if she was here.

Kalani looked up, opened her mouth to apologize or demand an explanation or maybe both, but Ky beat her to the punch. “You don’t understand _anything_!” she yelled, and bolted from the clearing in the direction of the school. Kalani lifted a hand after her, but whatever words she’d meant to say died in her throat as she realized something. She’d made Ky cry. Ky had been grumpy and snarky and downright mad before, but the was the first time she’d seen their sellsword upset enough to cry, and it was _her fault_.

“Shit.” Kalani mumbled, curling into a ball. She’d fucked up, big time.

\---

 _Stop crying._ Kyla commanded herself, charging more or less blindly through the woods. _Stop crying, you’re strong, you’re a swordsman, you’re a fucking **Straw Hat** for shit’s sake!_

It didn’t work. She couldn’t do breathing exercises while running, and she couldn’t make the fucking tears _stop_ , and no matter how much she knew they weren’t true Kalani’s words still hurt worse than any real actual physical blade to the chest she’d ever taken. Her foot caught on something, and she went down hard on ages old deadfall. Kyla didn’t get up, instead curling in on herself until she was a blue and white lump on the forest floor, rocks and leaves and bits of bark all poking into her shins and forearms where they were pressed against the ground.

A sob ripped its way out of her chest, shaking her whole body, and she pressed her forehead against the ground. Sanji had already come back for her once, rescued her from that orphanage on Soreth six years ago, he would definitely come back for her again. After all, her nakama had left her at home, they had to return to the Sunny eventually, she had been left to guard it, not abandoned there. But the thought still nagged at the back of her mind, what if she didn’t make it back in time and they thought she’d left of her own free will? What if they decided a little girl who was more hindrance than help in a fight wasn’t worth trying to find? What if Sanji decided that he was better off without someone who called him Mom on a regular basis?

Another sob pulled itself from her throat, and her fists tightened until her nails drew blood from the calloused heels of her palms. What if Zoro decided she was too weak to be his student? What if Nami and Robin were happier without having to share their bed? What if, what if, what if. Countless terrible possibilities which all added up to one inescapable question. _What if they didn’t love her after all?_ Kyla’s breaths shortened, and her fists shook even harder than they’d already been shaking. Her heart was racing, the lump in her tightened throat was choking her, and her face was covered in tears and snot. She sure didn’t look like someone you’d want around, that was for sure.

Kyla whimpered, and curled in on herself tighter. The thoughts in her head _hurt_ , and now that she’d finally acknowledged the idea it dominated her mind. There was no reason she could think of for the Straw Hats to want her back, not bad enough to come find her if she failed to get home. But should she even keep trying, if they didn’t want her? What if they got back and were disappointed she hadn’t taken the hint and left? Sanji was too nice to let them leave her somewhere, but if she left of her own free will he’d surely be fine with it.

Eventually, when her eyes and nose had both run dry and her throat was raw from sobbing and screaming, Kyla staggered to her feet. The sun had gone down, and she had no clue which way the school was but it wasn’t like she could walk off the property by accident so she just picked a direction and started walking. Screw Lani’s judgemental goody-two-shoes ass, tonight after training she was going to sleep with her swords where they belonged, tucked against her chest. Her weapons, at least, couldn’t hate her.

\---

“Go.” the word was spoken firmly, reverberating slightly with conqueror’s haki. He was glaring, upset that she’d dared to set foot on his ship again.

“Leave the swords.” he said, single dark eye fixed on her like a laser. “They deserve a better owner than you.”

“Maybe she could join the Marines.” she said to him, their heads leaned in conspiratorially, wild orange hair mingling with loose curly black.

“She’s certainly dressed for it.” he agreed, goggles bouncing against his chest as he nodded.

“Mom?” she squeaked, and turned to him even as she slowly walked backwards toward the railing, the loops on her haramaki snapping one by one, swords hitting the grassy deck.

“A stowaway’s just another mouth to feed.” he frowned at her. “And I’m nobody’s mother, least of all yours. We look nothing alike.”

Her hands flew up to her face, and came away with smudges of eyebrow pencil on her fingertips. She took another step back, and tumbled off the side of the ship.

-

Kyla sat up with a gasp, half expecting to draw in a lungful of freezing saltwater. Once she’d ascertained she hadn’t, in fact, been forced off the edge of the Sunny, she curled her knees to her chest and glanced at the clock. Four thirty one. She’d gotten less than fifteen minutes of sleep, and her heart was still racing at the mental image of her family towering over her, faceless and judging. Judging, and finding her lacking, unworthy, _weak_.

Kyla bit down hard on the inside of her lower lip and shut her eyes, tucking her head against her knees. She’d been slacking off on her weight training lately, spending her afternoons instead out in the school forest with the Square Knots. It was so hard to say no when Moana kept saying it wasn’t a complete crew meeting without her present, and harder still when Kalani smiled at her like she was made of the starlight the navigator loved so much every time she said yes. She needed to remember that there was no reason for the Straw Hats to hate her now, that they’d left her to guard the ship and to keep her away from the fighting.

She didn’t need a new nakama, didn’t need their approval. What she needed was to stay strong, to get stronger, to find a way home, and to stop thinking of herself as weak. She wasn’t as strong in a fight as the other Straw Hats, sure, but she was ten years younger than Chopper, she’d be weaker until she was an adult and could catch up to Nami and Robin and Usopp. She was strong, she was a Straw Hat, she had no reason to be having such stupid fucking nightmares! Kyla let out her breath in a frustrated huff, and flopped back on the mattress. Her swords were right there beneath her, tucked away safely between the box springs, and she shut her eyes to reach for them with her mind.

She liked to picture her sense of their presence like candles in the dark. though Zoro compared it to following a sound. Each of his swords made a different tone, and each of hers burnt a different colour. Sengo’s flame was brightest, a violent red which leapt like a barely contained wildfire. Hibiki’s was lower, more steady, a quiet green which twined with Sengo’s red to form a brilliant orangey gold which warmed her inside to look at. And then there was her first sword, a low flickering thing, soft and blue and intimately _calming_ , like the heart of the candle flames she stared into while meditating. All together, her three swords formed a pale gold light like that of the sun, calm and quiet and warm all at once.

Kyla exhaled slowly until her lungs were empty, then breathed in for a count of eleven while keeping her focus on the blue flame of her first sword. In for eleven, out for seven, focus on the blue flame not the other two. Slowly, gradually, the tension from the nightmare bled out of her. She opened her eyes a sliver, and groaned at the time displayed on the clock. Five forty. Lani’s alarm would be going off in twenty minutes.

Fuck it, she wasn’t getting any more sleep, might as well get showered before her roommate got her ass out of bed to hog it. Quick shower, then she’d hit the weight room when it opened and go up twenty pounds from her usual. Zoro would expect her to be stronger when they got back, and it wouldn’t do to disappoint her sensei. Hmm, but if she was adding time to her workout that was taking time from her breakfast. Well, she could always grab a banana and granola bar and stuff those in her face on the way to first period.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to chapter 815, I have an actual enemy to pit the Straw Hats against! And thanks to chapter 820, I have plenty to scream about! Plus a cute pic idea to draw, maybe.
> 
> Oh, in addition to astronomy club (which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays) Lani is part of a club that has two-hour meetings after school every Wednesday. Since Kyla’s not part of any clubs, she’s got a lot more alone time in her room now, and as a result her sleep schedule has vastly improved. Kalani means well, she really does, but she doesn’t have anywhere _near_ the full story.
> 
> Damn, though. I really didn’t mean for this chapter to get as long as it did. 3,500 words! And with this being part 13, Education is now the longest running arc in Kyla's Story.


	33. Age 13: Education Part 14

Kyla gripped the edge of the bed tighter, exhaled until her lungs were empty, and yanked as hard as she could. Her shirt rode up in front as she slid out from under the bed, and she glared down at her chest as she sat up. She’d shot up a solid quarter inch in the past month, and it had been getting harder and harder to maneuver under the bed. How the hell did Nami and Robin manage? She got to her feet, tucked her shirt back into her shorts over her haramaki, and glanced around the room. Under the bed had seemed like such a great place to hide them, but now that she only just barely fit it was getting to be pretty inconvenient to slide under and pull out her weapons for training.

Drawers, no, too easily searched. Closet? Even easier. No, this was pointless, if there was a better place than under the bed she would’ve put her swords there in the first place! Kyla groaned, and sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. Maybe she could cut a new slit in the bottom of the bed closer to the edge, so all the had to do was stick her arm under? No, then it’d be visible during room inspections. She fell back, sticking her legs out and pressing the heels of her hands against the top of her eye sockets, every muscle in her body tense as a wire. There had to be a solution!

“Ugh, if you’re having a meltdown I’ll just go.” Lani said from the doorway.

Kyla sat up and glared at her roommate. “Not on your life.” she huffed, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up slightly. “I’m a swordsman, I don’t have meltdowns.”

“Suuure.” the paler girl drawled, shutting the door behind herself and flinging her bag on her bed. “That’s why you wake up with nightmares all the damn time.”

Kyla tensed, gritted her teeth, exhaled through her nose so she wouldn’t make some sort of dangerous sound by accident. Lani smirked, flipped her hair, and all but strutted over to the desk. “Well, if you’re not melting down right now, could you at least keep quiet so I can do my homework?”

Kyla forced herself to release the mattress and stand up. It was her rest day today, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go punch a tree or something. The alternative was to just punch Lani in the face, but that would get her in more trouble than it was worth. So she hooked her fingers in the fabric of her shirt, through the loops on the harmaki underneath, and formed a fist for a moment. Then she opened the door, and left the room.

Getting out of the building was easy enough when she didn’t have her swords, and Kyla made a beeline for the woods. A few yards in, however, she paused. She knew these woods pretty well now, after several weeks of trekking back and forth through them to get to the Square Knots’ little fort, and most of the area was unused. A small chunk had been thinned for one of the clubs to use for something or other, and apparently classes in their biology science units sometimes went a few yards in for things but the rest of the space was completely free of Marine presence. If she could find somewhere in the woods to hide her swords, then she’d just have to figure out how to not trip the alarm sneaking out the window to train at night. Or, since she’d be training in the woods, she’d just have to figure out how to get let back in after curfew.

A smile split her face, and Kyla veered off the path. The clearing the Square Knots made into a base couldn’t possibly be the only one, and if she could find one with a place to put her swords to shelter them from the elements then- the smile vanished. She’d be leaving her swords outside, far enough away from her dorm room that she might not be able to sense them when she woke up. She couldn’t recall a single time that had happened since, well, since she’d learnt how to sense her swords. Even when she’d been kidnapped with little Sanji her weapons had been in the same building, easily within her range.

Kyla sighed, and rested her left hand over the empty loops which should be holding her swords. Being separated from her blades was nowhere near as bad as having them trapped between the box springs because she’d had a growth spurt. She would be fine, so long as she was able to stick to her training schedule. Dragging a hand along the wide trunk of a tree, she tried to keep an awareness of which direction she’d need to go to get back to the school, but it was hopeless. It was impossible to get truly lost of course, since she couldn’t just walk off the school grounds into the woods on the other side, but as she trekked through the trees Kyla wished fervently that she had Nami’s infallible internal compass.

Even if she did find a place, how would she find it again? Maybe she could make marks on the trees or something, but then anybody could follow them. Oh, no, _duh_. She smacked her own forehead as the blindingly obvious answer came to mind. She’d be able to find it by following her swords! Nobody else would be able to do that, but for her it’d be as easy as breathing. Well, assuming she found a place at all, and was able to get her swords out to it in the first place.

\---

Several hours of wandering later, as the shadows of the trees were starting to noticeably stretch along the ground, Kyla literally tripped into a clearing easily as big as the crow’s nest back home on the Sunny. And standing tall at one end was a massive dead tree, its uppermost remaining branches burnt black. A smile split her face, and she ran over to look at it more closely. She’d found several clearings earlier, one or two of them possibly twice, but none of them had something as cool as this.

Kyla rapped her knuckles on the tree, trying to judge how good it might be for using as a target, and paused when the sound echoed slightly. A hollow tree? She knocked again, harder, and yeah that was definitely an echo. If she had her swords on hand she would’ve sliced the tree open to look inside, but the only blade she had was the little plastic thing in her pocket, slightly warped from that time she set it on fire. A smile flickered over her face at the memory of the day Pere had come back to class with his bandages off, a massive scar marring the left side of his face. He’d _flinched_ when she told him it looked painful before lunch, and it was something close to a miracle she hadn’t cracked up laughing on the spot.

She tucked her hand in her pocket, and ran a finger along the edge of her plastic blade. With careful application of haki she might be able to manage a hole with just her knife, and if this clearing was going to be her training area then she’d need a place to keep her swords where they’d be safe from the elements. Maybe she’d hack a bit out of this tree and stow her swords inside it while it stood, maybe she’d just cut it down and tuck them in the fallen trunk, it depended on how well this knife could cut, really.

Kyla drew the plastic blade from her pocket, and coated it in deep red armament haki. A few slashes revealed that the wood was too thick for the blade to cut all the way through, and she frowned. Aside from that one time with the fire, which had been more an accident than anything else, she’d never used any real techniques with this shitty excuse for a weapon. If she used the same principle as Nigiri, but on one tiny blade instead of two full-sized ones, maybe she’d be able to do it? She definitely wouldn’t be able to cut down the tree with just her little knife, but she’d be able to cut the trunk open and look inside. Kyla nodded once, and took a step back to fall into a proper stance. She’d cut a hole, and see what was inside this dead tree. If she was lucky, she’d be able to use it as a storage space for her swords until she found a way out of here.

Forming the air blade was easy enough, far easier than setting the blade aflame at any rate, but when she tried to launch it into the bark it dissipated. She scowled at the tree and tried again, shaping the air into a razor-sharp edge and flinging it at the wood. Still no effect. She hadn’t had this problem since she was first training, before Zoro had taught her how to bind the air blade to its shape with pure willpower and word or two. _Words_ , of course! She was trying to use a technique without naming it first, and that was just about as stupid as trying to teach a devil fruit user to swim.

“ _Kiritsukeru_ ” she whispered after a long moment, swinging her arm and launching the air blade intoher target. It struck true, gouged through the wood of the tree, and Kyla smiled. Three more slashes freed the chunk of wood, and a bit of wiggling popped it loose of the trunk. She set it down gently, and peered into the hole she’d created. It was dark, and smelled kinda like fire. She reached in, and a bit of feeling around revealed a space probably big enough for her to hide in if she’d cut a bigger hole. It was dry, and the top and sides were a little sooty as far as she could feel them, but so long as she got her hands on some sort of cloth to wrap her swords in they’d be perfectly fine.

Fine, and easily accessible. Kyla giggled, and hugged herself tight around the waist. Now all she had to do was get her swords out of the building, and find this clearing again. Maybe clear the space out a little, get rid of any stray twigs or prickly plants. She could use the saplings near the edge of the clearing as targets for simpler techniques, and there were plenty of massive trees for targeting while she developed her own moves. This would be good, this would be the best thing since she’d gotten dragged here. Better even than meeting Kalani and her silly little nakama.

\---

Kyla ducked under a low-hanging branch, and a smile split her face. Fucking _finally_. The clearing had proven tricky to find a second time, but now she had her swords with her and she’d be able to find it super easily next time she had a chance to make a break for the docks. That was... actually a pretty nice bonus that she hadn’t considered before. It would be much easier to make a break for it if she wasn’t alerting Marines to her intent by opening her bedroom window far enough to jump out. Hell, they were probably still trying to figure out where she was escaping from this time.

Kyla carefully set her little improvised swordcare kit on the ground, and pulled her first sword from her haramaki saya and all. If her hiding place was too deep, she’d have to cut a new hole nearer the bottom to get at her maintenance supplies. Well, either that or she’d have to carry them out of and back to her room every time she needed them, which sounded pretty annoying. Thankfully, after a quick check, the hollow turned out to be only barely deeper than her arm was long. So long as she kept her supplies bundled together, she’d have no problem reaching them.

She smiled, and set her makeshift kit inside the tree. She had a storage spot, a large area to train in, and plenty of things to hit. The only thing that could make this better really was if she had her shinai, or a sparring partner. But her shinai were back home, and none of the kids here were even close to being on her level, so this would have to do. Once she cleared out the scattered prickly plants and kicked the fallen twigs out of the way, she’d probably even dare to say it was damn near perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla is finally hitting her One Piece Growth Spurt™! Also puberty in general, and all the fun things that come with it like acne and periods and _feelings_. Her newest technique, _Kiritsukeru_ , is Japanese for slash. It’s pretty much the weakest technique in her arsenal, though of course it scales with the quality of her weapon and the amount of effort


	34. Age 13: Education Part 15

Kalani frowned across the lunch table at Ky, who was glaring at a packet of hot sauce which wasn’t tearing open properly. The dark girl had been getting more irritable all week, and today she’d been dozing in class, Kalani was sure of it. She knew what she’d seen, but it didn’t make any sense. Ky had gotten a lot better about her sleep schedule since clubs started, so why would she be napping in class again?

“Yo, Ky.” Moana kicked their sellsword under the table, and Kalani swung her heel against her brother’s shin. He gave her a brief confused look, then turned back to facing Ky before she could glare at him. “Wanna hang at the branch after school?”

“Na-h.” Ky shook her head, and that was definitely a yawn which cracked her word in the middle. “I’m a bit behind on my weight training.”

Bit behind on her sleep was more like it, but Kalani elected not to say that out loud. Ky was stubborn as a mule when it came to her training, so blindly focused on getting stronger she’d been willing to sacrifice large amounts of sleep to meet some arbitrary number of hours she’d set for herself. A number of hours which may have increased. “What, trying to ramp up your schedule all around?” she teased, looking for the flash of defiance which always appeared when Ky thought she was being challenged. Instead, the darker girl just gave her a blank look.

“Yeah, I mean, I know every kid with a sword to their name wants to be the World’s Greatest but you don’t have to keep killing yourself over it.” Cam added, obviously having come to a similar conclusion.

A very strange expression crossed Ky’s face, just a flash before it was replaced by more confusion. “I’m not adding any hours, just trying to make up the weight room time I miss.” she looked between them, then down at her lunch. “I’m not spending my nights training, if that’s what you’re worried about.” her mouth twisted into an approximation of a smile, and Kalani reached across the table to rest her hand over Ky’s.

“Then what’s wrong?” Kalani asked, giving Ky’s hand a gentle squeeze. Ky rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away, drawing a warped cafeteria knife from her pocket to slice the condiment packet open.

“None of your business.” she grumbled, squeezing hot sauce onto her school lunch.

Moana scowled, and Amets scooted away from Ky a little bit. Kalani just sighed and lifted her sandwich to take a bite as her twin shot to his feet and slammed his hands on the table. “Like hell it’s none of our business!”

Kalani glanced around, and was slightly miffed that nobody had turned to look. Had her twin’s dramatics really gotten so predictable? Ky was glaring in earnest now, and looked about ten wrong words from stabbing someone.

“And why are my sleeping problems your issue?” She gritted out, each word tight with unspoken threat.

“Because you’re our nakama, and part of my crew!”

Ky shot to her feet at that, and slammed her hands on the table so hard the whole damn thing jumped. Something broke, loudly, and suddenly every eye in the cafeteria was on them, not that Ky seemed to notice or care. “You’re _not_ my nakama!” she yelled, voice ringing in the suddenly silent room. “And I’m not part of your stupid crew! My family is out there, and I’m _going_ to get back to them!” She lifted her hands, revealing two perfect prints splintered into the tabletop, and stormed off towards the door.

Five steps away she paused, turned on her heel, and marched right back to the table to pick up her sandwich. Amets snorted, and without warning Ky grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face against the table. Something else broke, this time a distinctly organic sound, and the cafeteria erupted in panic as Amets began swearing loudly. Cam immediately had her hands pressed to his forehead, checking the extent of the injury, but Kalani couldn’t tear her gaze from Ky’s retreating back. Something was very wrong with their swordswoman. Even when she’d barely been sleeping, Ky’s worst moods had never pushed her to actually hurt one of her friends.

The cafeteria door swung open, then shut, and Kalani pressed her lips into as thin a line as they would go. She would get to the bottom of this, and she would fix it. And if that involved tying Ky to the tire swing in the branch fort, she’d do it in a heartbeat.

\---

Cam and the school nurse both advised Amets go get an x-ray done, because there had definitely been a breaking sound and it hadn’t been his nose, and without their swordsman they weren’t hanging out at either fort today. Moana wasn’t happy with her plan, but eventually acquiesced, so after they were done cleaning the classroom Kalani grabbed her book bag and followed Ky towards the weight room rather than heading for the hospital with her twin and their medic. Ky stopped on the stairs a flight and a half from the bottom, and Kalani stopped a few steps behind her.

“I don’t have to explain myself to anyone, least of all you.” the darker girl said without preamble.

A large part of Kalani wanted to snap back, to push Ky and _hurt_ the swordswoman for attacking one of her nakama, but she swallowed that impulse quickly. Ky was stronger than her, Ky had permanently scarred Pere and shattered the table and given Amets a skull fracture. She had to be smart here. “Okay.” she said slowly, taking a step forward and laying a hand on Ky’s shoulder. “But at least give me something to tell Amets when I go see him in the hospital.”

Ky’s posture changed immediately, shoulders sagging and head drooping forwards. “I didn’t mean to hurt him.” she said, and her voice was so small Kalani moved forward to put an arm fully around the swordswoman’s shoulders. “But my-” she paused, and took a shaky breath. “My big brother did the same thing, and he can take hits from my mom and sensei without a problem.”

“Did?” Kalani blinked, startled. Ky had never mentioned having a deceased sibling before, just her clever big sister and mess of crazy older brothers.

“Last night, in my nightmare.” Ky said, and immediately stiffened. Kalani removed her arm from around the freckled girl’s shoulders, and sat down on the wide stairs. After a moment Ky sat next to her, and Kalani waited patiently for her friend to explain.

“I’ve been having nightmares.” Ky said, her voice low and quiet enough to not echo at all in the stairwell. “I get home and my family doesn’t want me, or I’m on Ialst searching for them but they’re not there, or-” her breath hitched, and she curled her knees almost to her chest. “Or the Marines get me, and they die trying to save me, and it’s all my fault.”

Kalani’s chest felt tight, and she made a wordless sound caught somewhere between sympathy and an attempt at comfort. She looped her arms around Ky, one behind her shoulders the other across her stomach, and pulled the swordswoman into a hug. “It’s okay.” she murmured, lifting her hand from Ky’s shoulders to stroke the swordswoman’s hair. “It’s okay, I’m sure your mother is worried sick about you.”

Ky sobbed, and gripped at the back of Kalani’s shirt like she was drowning. Kalani continued stroking the back of Ky’s head, making soft comforting noises as she did so, and it was only a few minutes before the swordswoman pulled away and scrubbed her face dry with her neckerchief. “Don’t tell anyone about this?” she said weakly.

Kalani nodded, and dragged her index finger in an X over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Ky giggled at that, and Kalani’s heart somehow managed to simultaneously drop into her stomach and leap up into her throat. _Fuck_.

“Thank you, Kalani.” Ky grinned, unsteady and almost close-mouthed but wide enough to show her adorable dimples. “Tell Amets I’m sorry, and Moana that he doesn’t owe me anything for this week.” she stood, brushed some loose hair over her shoulder, and as she walked away Kalani pressed a hand over her heart. This- this complicated things, just a bit. Especially if her hunch was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing comfort scenes, but I don’t usually do it from the point of view of the comforter so this was a bit of an experiment for me. Luckily Kalani is fun to write, and Kyla is a hot mess even by high school standards. Like, seriously, I love her to death and back but Kyla is so fucked for proper pale affection and she’s not getting a moirail for another few _years_.


	35. Age 13: Education Part 16

Kyla sat down heavily, and let her head hang back against the hollow tree. Developing her other moves hadn’t been nearly this hard, or this exhausting. Her arms felt like they’d turned to jelly, and her jaw was stiff as shit from three solid hours of clenching Hibiki in her teeth but she couldn’t summon up the strength to lift a hand and massage it. A groan slipped out of her throat, and she emptied her lungs in one long exhale of complaint. She’d be sore as hell tomorrow, but at least it was a rest day so she’d be able to not do much of anything.

The sun had already met the horizon, and the sky was beginning to show stars among its wisps of cloud. The thought flitted through her head that this was probably the type of night Kalani would love, and Kyla smiled a bit. The air was still warm despite the onset of evening, and the afternoon’s thunderstorm had lowered the humidity to an actually bearable level. She made to stand up, but her arms still felt like massive overcooked spaghetti noodles and didn’t want to lift more than a few inches from her side. Fuck it, the weather was nice enough she could spend another half hour resting here before going back to the dorms to sleep.

-

Kyla woke with warm sunlight on her face, and inhaled deeply before letting out a long contented sigh. The muscles in her arms ached when she stretched, but she’d had worse. Her hair was a mess, and not for the first time Kyla wished for her normal hair back. When it was loose most islanders couldn’t tell whether or not it was messy, and when it was braided it never got this out of hand. She reached out for her swords without thinking, and had her first two in their loops before her brain finally caught up with the rest of her.

Outside, swords at hand, _shit_. She’d fallen asleep after training. She was going to be in even more trouble than usual when she got back, and that was kinda saying something considering she was still suffering the backlash of smashing Amets into the cafeteria table hard enough to fracture his skull. Thankfully he’d forgiven her, though she’d neglected to ask just what Kalani had told him that he thought he was in the wrong. In the end it didn’t matter, so long as she didn’t do it again right? Nothing to regret if there weren’t any lasting consequences.

A smile tugged at her lips, and Kyla realized with a jolt that she’d slept through the night. No nightmares, just peaceful sleep and maybe a few dreams. Considering the nightmares had only gotten bad after she was forced to move her swords into the woods, the reason was fairly obvious. The bad dreams would probably go away again if she could get her swords back under the bed, but there was no way she’d fit under there now.

She sighed, and set her first sword back inside the tree. There was no way she could get away with sleeping in the woods every night. The stupid overprotective Marines who ran this place would probably all have heart attacks if they knew she’d done it even once. The mental image made her smile as she pulled Hibiki from her haramaki to tuck next to her first sword. If only escaping was that easy she’d already be back home on the Sunny.

Kyla pulled Sengo from her haramaki, but as she slid it into the tree a flash of light from the saya drew her attention. It was nothing new, a simple decoration made of black cord threaded through golden chain links which Nami had given her for her tenth birthday, but it made her pause. She couldn’t bring her swords into the school, and like hell was she going to leave one of them without its saya on a wild guess, but Sengo would be just fine without his ornament. She unknotted the cord, and hung Sengo from her hip again as she wrapped it around her wrist twice and tied the ends back together. The bracelet felt awkward, and she resolved to knot it back on Sengo first thing tomorrow if her guess was off the mark.

\---

“Isn’t that from one of your swords?” Amets asked, nodding at her wrist.

Kyla pulled his workbook closer and copied down another answer. “Yeah.”

“Why’re you wearing it as a bracelet?”

She shrugged, and moved on to the last question. “I can’t carry my whole sword, but nobody can stop me from wearing this much of it.” she patted the ornament, then jotted down the last few letters and number of the answer and handed Amets his workbook back.

“Still weird.” he frowned, accepting the staple-bound sheaf of paper and leaning against the edge of Kalani’s desk.

“Well, look at it this way.” Kyla affected the sweetest tone she could muster without it turning completely saccharine, and pasted on her most blatantly fake smile. “If I have a bit of one of my swords with me at all times, I’m less likely to stab someone out of sheer frustration.”

Kalani giggled, and Kyla let her smile fade into one a bit more real. “How’s your head, by the way?”

“Still hurts when it’s too bright out, but I’m good.” Amets replied.

“It’s called photosensitivity, and I’m not surprised considering your skull is still cracked.” Cam huffed. “Now c’mon, Moana’s done with my history work and I _know_ you still have answers to fill in.”

“You look like you got some real sleep last night.” Kalani commented, obviously aiming for casual but falling almost hilariously short.

“Yeah.” Kyla replied quietly, running her fingers over Sengo’s ornament on her wrist. As she’d hoped, it held of an echo of her second sword’s presence. The ‘light’ was barely there, an ember to its father’s bonfire, but that was apparently enough to ward off the terrors which plagued her sleep. “It’s kinda like a charm against bad dreams.” she said, keeping her voice low and directed at the paler girl. “Not as good as having Sengo with me, but it’s enough.”

Kalani looked a bit unsettled for a moment, and Kyla was beginning to wonder if she’d said something wrong when the navigator flashed a cheerful smile. “It’s a cute bracelet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out kinda short, but it didn’t flow right tacked onto the end of the last chapter. Mostly unrelated note, holy hell this thing’s gotten _long_. I didn’t expect to spend nearly so much time on Yabus when I started writing it, and there’s still ten whole chapters left!


	36. Age 13: Education Part 17

Kyla walked out of the detention room with her arms up in a simple stretch, and rolled her shoulders a few times as she headed towards the stairs which would lead down to the main entrance. The left half of the room had been in charge of cleaning up after class, so today she’d promised to hang out with Kalani and the Square Knots before going to train, rather than heading down to the weight room. Despite her best efforts she’d been stuck here for almost half a year already, and somewhere along the way she’d actually fallen into a routine. It was still weird being expected to do the same thing at the same time every day, though. Among the routines of life on a pirate ship, the only things which had a set time from day to day were when the shift changed for watch, and her bedtime when she’d been younger.

The path into the woods was familiar under her feet, and Kyla let her mind wander to the forms she’d be practicing after the Square Knots went home. She needed to put another few hours into mastering her own techniques, so she’d probably only drill the moves Zoro taught her a few dozen times each before moving on. Maintaining multiple air blades at once was tricky feat, and she had yet to master it. Also her armament haki needed work, she couldn’t hold it for any real length of time without lowering its strength to the point of invisibility.

“I can’t believe you’d say something like that about Ky!” Cam snapped from up ahead, and Kyla paused just outside of the clearing.

“I can’t believe you hadn’t figured it out yet!” Kalani shouted back, and Kyla stepped into the Square Knot Branch Fort.

“Figured what out?” she asked, looking between the islanders as she walked over to a polite conversational distance. Kalani was glaring daggers at Cam, Moana at his twin’s side with a concerned expression on his face. Amets was standing a few feet back from the confrontation and looked about ready to throw a punch, though Kyla couldn’t tell who at.

“See? Let’s just ask her.” Cam huffed, and turned to Kyla. “Are you lying to us?”

“What?” Kyla frowned.

“ _Kalani_ is under the impression you’re not really Runa Ky.” the medic said disdainfully. “She thinks you’re actually Kyla of the Straw Hat Pirates, Black Leg Sanji’s daughter.” Cam snorted, and Kyla balled her hands into fists to hide their sudden shaking. She couldn’t breathe, could barely hear beyond the sudden pounding of her heartbeat in her ears, and her eyes fixed on Kalani. Kalani, who was holding her bounty poster in one hand.

“Oh, shit.” Amets whispered, and Kyla reached for her swords without thinking. If they wanted her bounty they’d have to fight for it, same as any other bounty hunters. Her left hand closed on sturdy white fabric over empty loops, and her heart leapt into her throat. She couldn’t breathe, and now her whole body was shaking. Even if she had her swords, would she be able to swing them properly? She could run, but Nami had taught her that running only made you look more guilty and where would she run to? The Marines? That’d be as bad as turning herself in!

“Ky?” Kalani said, taking a step closer with her hands held out, now empty. “I’m sorry, Ky. I know you must’ve kept it secret for a reason, but-”

Kyla had her plastic knife in hand before the pretty navigator could take another step, but her hand shook as she held it up and she couldn’t concentrate well enough to coat it in haki so it was basically useless. “What would make you think that?” she asked, her voice far steadier than her hands. The other three islanders hadn’t moved, staring at her in obvious shock.

“Your eyebrows.” Kalani said, keeping her hands out and open. “When you pushed me off the back of the Largo, I saw under your bangs.”

“She _pushed_ you?!” Moana squawked, attention turning to his twin. “You said it was an accident!”

“Plenty of people have eyebrows like these.” Kyla lied, though it sounded fake even to her own ears. “My whole family does.”

“I thought you were adopted.” Cam said, and Kyla flinched.

“My birth family.” she said quickly. “Mom says I’m the spitting image of the lady who gave birth to me.”

“I’m not convinced.” Moana said firmly, crossing his arms. Her bounty poster dangled from one hand, crumpled in his careless hold. “If you’re really Black Leg Sanji’s daughter, how come you don’t kick people?”

“Or talk about your dad.” Amets added, and Kyla felt her face heat with a blush.

“I-”

“Obviously she’s Roronoa Zoro’s student, gods!” Kalani huffed, smacking her twin upside the head before Kyla had to answer either question. “She’s got three swords and a haramaki, remember?”

“I-”

“Ky, just tell us.” Cam interrupted her. “Are you or aren’t you one of the Pirate King’s crew?”

“I-” Kyla’s hands fell to her sides, and she looked down. She could dodge around the question without properly answering if she had enough time to think of how, but she couldn’t outright deny who her family was. Or, well, she could but she’d certainly regret it, and she’d sworn not to regret anything so denial wasn’t an option. “I can’t.” her voice cracked, and she took a deep breath to stop herself from sobbing. “I promised I’d stay safe.” shit, that last word came out choked. Now it sounded like she was about to cry.

“What, you don’t think you’re safe with us?” Moana frowned. “You’re nakama!”

“You’re _not_ my nakama!” she snapped back, grip tightening on her plastic knife.

“But aren’t we your friends?” Amets asked, right hand resting on his left shoulder. “I mean, it’s not like we’d turn you in or anything.”

Kyla’s hand lowered slightly, her eyes flicking from Amets to Cam. Neither of them looked aggressive or threatening, just wary. Her gaze lingered slightly longer on Kalani, whose expression was so soft and pleading Kyla almost pocketed her knife on the spot. But instead she moved on to Moana and met his eyes. He was the captain of these islanders, and if there was one aspect of piracy these kids had down it was loyalty to their captain. If he said they couldn’t turn her in, she’d be safe from Marines until someone else discovered her heritage.

“I need to hear that from your captain.” she said, voice steady again. If Moana said no, then all four of these islanders would be walking threats and she’d have to find a way to deal with them that she wouldn’t regret later.

“We may not be a big famous crew yet, but we protect our own.” Moana smiled. “But I’ve gotta admit, there’s something of yours I’d like to see.”

Every eye fixed on the young captain, and he hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his uniform shorts. “Kyla, would you be so kind as to show us your swordsmanship?”

Kyla let her left hand fall completely to her side, knife remaining firmly clasped in her grip. For a second she’d thought he was going to end that sentence like Brook always did, and if that had been the case she would’ve thrown her plastic knife into his thigh. “I guess?” she frowned. “I don’t have any of my swords on hand though, so I’d have to go get them.”

“How about we go with you?” Kalani suggested, crossing the rest of the distance between them to twine their hands together. “No point in making you walk there and back twice on your own when it's already so late in the afternoon.”

“Good idea, thanks Kalani.” Kyla smiled weakly, doing her best to hide the sick twisting in her stomach.

There was no visible path from the Square Knots’ branch fort to her training clearing, but she was in range of her swords so it was easy enough to lead the islanders there. Kalani’s hand didn’t leave hers once, and the navigator’s steady grip had a curiously calming effect, for all that it set her heart racing. Kalani did let go when they got to the clearing, and Kyla walked over to the massive dead tree she’d been storing her swords in for the past few months. Her weapons were still right where she’d left them, and a horrible thought flashed through her head. She could kill everyone here so easily, if she just forwent her code for a few seconds. Her blades were sharp, they were all unarmed, and it wasn’t like her bounty was entirely undeserved. She was strong enough to bury their bodies, too. Nobody would ever know, and the only threat to her secret would be soundly eliminated.

Her fingers hovered inches away from Sengo’s hilt, and she clenched her hand into a fist. No, that was a stupid thought. She’d never hurt innocents that way, let alone her friends. She’d regret it forever, and that was just as much against her code as killing innocents.

“Come ooon.” Cam whined impatiently, bouncing one leg. “Mom’s got a surgery she wants me to help with at six, and I wanna see you bust some shit up before I gotta leave.”

“Yeah, I hafta go home for dinner soon.” Amets added. “Hurry it up.”

“Got it.” Kyla uncurled her fist and grabbed her swords, pulling them easily from the tree. It only took a few moments to get all three out and leaning against the trunk, and she pulled off her shirt to reveal the soft yellow haramaki underneath. Gods, it was nice to have full range of motion in her shoulders. Amets squeaked and covered his eyes, and Moana elbowed him in the ribs.

“It’s not like she’s stripping. Did you wanna watch or not?”

Kyla chuckled, and pulled her haramaki up out of her shorts to slide her three weapons into the fabric hoops which held them. The weight was comforting, and she walked through the cluster of teens to face away from them and towards the nearest edge of the school’s property. Closed eyes, three measured breaths, and- her eyes flew open as she drew all three weapons in a single smooth movement. Hibiki and the Marine’s sword in her left hand, Sengo the 5th in her right. She flicked the Marine sword into the air as her arm crossed her body, and caught it in her teeth. They wanted a show? She’d give them a fucking show.

_Oni Giri_ Kyla decided, crossing the swords in her hands across her chest in an X and whispering the words into Hibiki’s hilt. She lunged at the tree she’d been using as a target lately, its bark scarred from various trials in creating her own techniques, and brought her blades down hard. The air in front of her swords compressed into a second set of edges, scoring the tree and weakening it for the steel which followed a moment later. Her swords sliced neatly through dry bark, and then through the dense wood beneath with barely any further effort. She came to a stop with a quick turn, spinning back around to face her friends. Moana was gaping, Kalani’s hands were clamped over her mouth, and Cam had fallen on her ass.

The tree split into six pieces, and as it toppled sideways Kyla saw Amets smiling. His eyes were gleaming, wide open like Luffy's when he saw a cool bug, and the lanky teen made an inarticulate sound of excitement before blurting out “SO COOL!” at top volume.

Kyla ducked her head, and busied herself putting away her swords to hide her blush. It was so easy to forget that the people she measured herself against were freakishly strong compared to your average islander. To these kids, who'd never been out of sight of their home island, she probably seemed like a monster. Just like the rest of her family. The thought was oddly comforting, that her friends could look at her and see someone worthing of standing with the Pirate King and the World’s Greatest Swordsman and all the rest of her nakama.

“Alright.” Moana was grinning as wide as his non-rubber face would allow. “You’re definitely who Kalani says you are.” he looked at the tree, now lying on the ground, and stuffed a hand into his pocket. “A swordswoman of your quality shouldn’t be accompanying a crew like us for snacks and favours.” he pulled out a crumpled thousand beri bill and held it out. “With you onboard, we might actually stand a chance as real pirates.” he chuckled, and Kalani rolled her eyes.

“Sure, if your new ship was big enough for all of us.” Kalani pointed out. “How are we supposed to set sail when our boat still only holds three people? I’m not picking between Ky and Cam.”

“Hey!” Amets huffed, the gleam fading from his eyes as he crossed his arms. “What about me?”

“Can you do _that_?” the pretty navigator tossed her hair and gestured at the triangular point of the stump.

“No.” the lighter boy said petulantly, and Cam snorted.

“Ky’s been trained by _Roronoa Zoro_. Of course she’s better than Metsy. She could probably kill us all without breaking a sweat if she wanted.” the pink haired girl lifted her arms up over her head, grabbing one at the elbow in an easy stretch. “Now, I gotta bounce or I’m gonna miss a hell of an operation. See ya tomorrow.” she waved from the wrist, grabbed her brown bag, and skipped off into the trees, presumably towards the school.

There were several seconds of dead silence, and then Kyla laughed. “She’s right.” Kyla grinned, hoping her face looked like her sensei’s did when others boasted of their prowess with a sword before challenging him. “I could cut you down so easily, like breaking a twig.” she popped the Marine sword an inch out of its sheath so its blade caught the light and shone dangerously, a trick which she’d practiced more times than she’d like to admit in order to master. Most of the lives she’d taken had been by Sengo’s blade, but in her time wielding them her first sword had the most blood on it of the three, even if it didn't have a name like the other two.

Amets blanched, but Kalani and Moana merely shared a glance before busting out laughing. The twins doubled over in synch, and as their raucous laughter filled the clearing Kyla suddenly thought that now they’d never leave her alone. She’d lost her quiet training spot, and Amets would probably be begging her to teach him later because _fuck_ now he was laughing too.

“I could!” Kyla repeated herself, resisting the urge to stamp her foot as she slid her first blade back fully into its sheath. Foot stamping was a thing little kids did, and she was a teenager now. Practically an adult. Adults did not stomp their feet when they got angry. Well, Luffy did sometimes but that was because he could kill people with Gum Gum Stamp and that was beside the point anyways.

“Nuh-uh.” Amets giggled.

“No way.” Kalani chorused with her twin, the both of them wearing identical smiles.

“Come on, I wouldn’t even need Santoryu. Ittoryu would be more than enough to mow down three unarmed kids.”

“But we’re friends.” Moana grinned, managing to swallow his giggles briefly.

“Yeah.” Kalani agreed, straightening up and pulling her hair over one shoulder in a cascade of soft brown waves. “You’re nakama whether you like it or not, and nakama don’t hurt each other.”

Kyla felt her cheeks heat, and grabbed Sengo’s hilt as she stalked towards them. “I’m not your nakama!” she almost drew the blade, but stopped herself. You only drew a sword if you intended to use it, and no matter how she bluffed she’d never be able to cut down her friends. “I’ve already got nakama, and I’m gonna get back to them!”

“Well duh.” Amets rolled his eyes. “The point still stands.” he gestured with his hand, flicking it out palm-up. “You’re gonna skip town the first chance you get, but until then you’re a part of our nakama.”

Kyla rolled her eyes, swallowing a denial which would certainly fall on deaf ears. and settled for kicking Moana in the shin. “You can stand up now, dumbass.”

“One- one second.” the shortest present teen gasped, struggling to return to normal breathing. “Here.” he pressed the crumpled thousand beri bill into Kyla’s hand, and straightened up.

“Moana, what am I gonna even spend this on?” Kyla waved the bill gently in front of his face.

“Sword care stuff.” Amets answered, cocking his head like he was asking a question. “Yours probably need some love after spending time in a tree.”

“Huh.” Kyla glanced at the open hole in the tree “Good idea. I’ve been using stuff I swiped from school, but sensei would beat me into the floor if I had the chance to get proper materials and didn’t.”

“So, we’re cool?”

Kyla looked back at Moana, and pursed her lips for a moment. He’d all but promised to keep her secret back in the branch fort, but an almost promise wasn’t enough. She needed something more binding, something which would force him to hold his tongue so long as he had even a pirate’s sense of honour. “Swear you’ll never tell anyone outside the Square Knot Pirates who I really am, and I’ll let you leave this place alive.” she slid the Marine sword an inch out of its sheath again, and glared in her best imitation of Zoro's angry face. Unfortunately she didn’t have her sensei’s height, or massive scars, or anything that made her especially intimidating besides the neatly hacked up tree behind her, so the effect was probably lost on her friends.

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” the young captain intoned solemnly, dragging his right index finger in an X over his left lung.

“Stick a needle in my eye.” Kalani completed, X-ing over her heart with one hand and jabbing her other thumb at her left eye.

“No, for real.” Kyla slid her first sword back into its sheath and crossed her arms. “Swear on something important to you, like a grown-up.”

“I’ll swear on my sword, Shinobu.” Amets said quietly. “It’s at home, but I can bring it tomorrow if you wanna see.”

Kyla blinked a few times, then grinned. Sometimes she forgot that Amets had an actual sword, not just those silly little wooden things they used at the kendo club. “Nah, I trust you. A swordsman’s oath is his bond, after all.”

“I’ll swear on my flag.” Moana lifted his chin. “And on my ship.”

“Can I swear on my brother?” Kalani asked almost monotonously, face set in the most bored expression Kyla had ever seen on the paler girl. It had to be forced, deliberate, but that didn’t make it any less funny.

The swordsman snorted, then giggled a bit. “Why not. If you can swear on the dead, you can swear on the living.” she held out her right hand to the Square Knot Pirates. “I accept your oaths.” Kyla shook each of their hands, then twisted her mouth into as menacing a grin as she could muster. “Now, if you break that promise, I get to kill you.” she pitched her voice down as low as she could for the latter half of the sentence, and her grin sharpened when Amets shuddered.

“Well, we weren’t gonna do that anyways.” Moana rolled his eyes, and jammed a finger up his nose. “So it’s not like it’ll ever be an issue.”

As her friends headed home for dinner, Kyla’s gaze shifted from the cash in her hand to the felled tree to the open trunk which currently held her makeshift supplies. After a minute, she sighed and ran her hand down Hibiki’s saya. She’d put in an hour of ittoryu, go have dinner, then come back out like usual to finish the day’s training. Except tonight she wouldn’t just be practicing her techniques, she’d also be hacking up the fallen tree to make a place for the Square Knot crew to sit when they inevitably came to watch her practice.

Sometimes she wished she’d never let these would-be pirates drag her into their group, but surprisingly, she wasn’t getting that feeling now. Having people around to impress might be a nice change of pace. Kyla could already imagine Kalani’s face when she saw Furaribi in action, shock and awe and the look of dawning understanding as she realized what had scarred Pere. The mental image made Kyla’s chest warm comfortably, and she drew her first sword. One hour, then dinner.


	37. Age 13: Education Part 18

“I’m such an _idiot_ ” Kyla yelled, grabbing for her hair and then grabbing lower to actually tangle her fingers in the dissatisfying straight locks.

“Huh?” Kalani lifted her head from the book she was reading, and gave Kyla a weird look. “C’mon, Ky, don’t say that.”

“No, I am.” Kyla scowled and yanked on her hair. “I’ve had the way out of here right in front of me all along!”

“And here I thought you were being a little shit on principle.” Cam rolled her eyes.

“Wait, you-” Kalani’s expression was dumbstruck, and something just under Kyla's lungs twisted painfully.

“Shut up.” she snapped, nearly yanking a few hairs out in the action of crossing her arms before she remembered to unclench her fists. “I hate Marines and their shitty rules.”

Cam giggled, and Kyla had the sickening feeling that if the Square Knot boys weren’t in detention right now all four of her friends would be laughing at her. Kalani’s smile was condescending, and the paler girl was only good at keeping her emotions hidden when not around her twin. “More than you hate being away from home?”

Something was off about Kalani’s tone, almost hopeful instead of playfully teasing, and Kyla squared her shoulders. “No, which is why I’m going to-” her face twisted in a scowl, but she forced the words out anyways. “Why I’m going to be a model student, starting tomorrow.”

Kalani did laugh at that, but Kyla couldn’t exactly blame her. Her, Vinsmoke Kyla of the Straw Hat Pirates, a model Marine student? The idea sounded dumb even in her head, but it was what she had to do. If she could keep out of trouble for just a few weeks, a month tops, she’d be able to get out the gate and never look back. Hide out in the woods, wait for dark, then steal a ship and head on home. Ialst was more or less straight south, she remembered that from her trip up in the brig of the damn merchant ship, so as long as she kept going in a straight-ish line she should be able to spot it from whatever ship she stole.

“You do realize that means not arguing with the history teacher anymore, right?” Cam piped up.

Kyla frowned. “Okay, this might be harder than I thought.”

\---

“Hey, Ky!”

Kyla turned at the sound of footsteps, and saw Amets running towards her with a newspaper in the hand not clutching his school bag. “What’s up?” she asked, curling her arm to hang her own brown bag over one shoulder.

“Look at today’s headline!” he shoved the paper at her face, and she took a step back so she could see the whole page. ‘ **Straw Hat Grand Fleet Spotted Convening at Todari Island!** ’ was splashed across the top in large bold print, with a picture underneath of several dozen ships anchored in a cluster. The Going Luffy was easiest to spot, of course, but she knew if she took the time she’d be able to name every ship in the photo, as well as who their captains were and which member of her family had gone with them almost a year ago.

She pulled the paper from Amets without difficulty, and her eyes flicked over the paragraphs underneath. If it was possible to ignite anything but a weapon she probably would’ve burnt the damn thing to cinders after the first few sentences, but instead she just clutched it tight enough to dig deep creases into the paper and kept reading. There was a lot of slander, her family and their allies being called criminals and scum and worse, but a few lines did reveal crucial information.

“They’re all alive.” she said quietly, letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “And if they’re all together, they’re going to be heading home.” she looked up from the paper at Amets, who was smiling almost proudly. “How far away is Todari?”

“No clue.” the tanned swordsman shook his head. “But you can ask Kalani when she gets here.”

“Thanks for bringing this.” Kyla grinned, folding the paper so it fit easily in one hand. She’d have to leave tonight, just to be safe. Her stash of snacks and drinks wasn’t nearly as big as she’d hoped it would be, but paired with the handful of thousand beri notes Moana had slipped her since Kalani revealed her real identity she should easily be able to purchase enough supplies for a week at sea. There was no way she’d be able to hide the fact that she’d been kidnapped at this point, but being able to say she got back under her own power should be enough to keep her family from worrying too much.

\---

“Wait.” the Marine at the gate held out his hand, and Kyla nearly screamed in frustration. Between packing her brown bag full of hoarded foodstuffs and fetching her swords from their tree, she’d already been on Marine property half an hour longer than she meant to be. He’d already found her name on his list of resident students okayed to leave campus, what was the holdup?

“What’s the problem, sir?” she asked, forcing her voice to sound sweet and her mouth to twist into an innocent smile.

“Your swords.” he frowned, and Kyla realized where she knew his face from. This was the kendo club guy, the one whose ass she’d kicked back when she’d only been here for a month or two.

“There’s no law against a swordsman carrying their weapons on public property, is there?” she frowned, doing her best to sound confused instead of confrontational. Mom told her how cute she was all the time, surely she could use it to her advantage like Nami did on occasion.

“Are these the swords you said your sensei trains you with?” Mr. Shizua asked, leaning down to look at them but not reaching out to touch.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded, an idea coming to mind. “I’m actually gonna look into finding a dojo to train at while I’m here.” she gave a bright, almost painfully fake smile. “Maybe next year I’ll even try out for the kendo club for real.”

“Well in that case, I wish you the best of luck Miss Runa.” he nodded once, and Kyla nodded back as respectfully as she could manage without having to roll her eyes. “I highly recommend Mr. Kimura’s dojo, by the base.” he pointed in the opposite direction of the docks, just to the left of the Marine building which rose like a squat tower above the other rooftops. “My best students train there, including your friend Amets.”

Kyla bobbed her head again. “I’ll be sure to ask him for directions.”

Mr. Kimura stepped aside, and she forced herself to walk at a normal speed down the street towards the docks. A left at the first corner, and she almost literally ran into Kalani loitering against the wall.

“What took you so long?” the navigator huffed, full lips squishing into an unreasonably adorable pout.

“Marine bullshit.” Kyla rolled her eyes.

“C’mon, everyone else is already at the fort.” Kalani smiled, radiant in the warm sunlight of the autumn afternoon. Her fingers slipped between Kyla’s, and she pulled the darker girl forward by the hand. It took almost half a block for Kyla to get her mouth to work right, like her brain had inexplicably short-circuited from holding hands with her best friend.

“I’ve still gotta get supplies.” she protested weakly, not even trying to remove her hand from Kalani’s.

“We can do that together.” Kalani suggested, squeezing Kyla’s hand. “But like, after dropping our bags at the fort. I don’t wanna be carrying my books with me all over town.”

“Yeah, good point.” she replied lamely, and almost smacked herself. What was wrong with her today? She was going home, she should be ecstatic to spend a little more time with her best friend before they said goodbye. Maybe that was the problem, though. She’d never had to say goodbye to anyone before, not anyone she cared about at least, and the Square Knots were the best friends she’d ever had. The only ones, actually, outside of that one time Sanji got turned into a half-starved little kid, but the point still stood.

“Got her!” Kalani called out as they entered the clearing the Square Knots had built their main fort in. Amets and Cam turned from lobbing dirt clods into a target drawn on the ground, and Moana looked up from doing something in a thick notebook with a metal coil holding the pages together at the top instead of on a normal smooth binding the side.

“Finally.” Moana grinned, sliding his pencil into the metal coil and shutting the book. “Cam won’t judge me and Amets in a staring competition, but you will, right Ky?”

“Actually...” Kyla smiled weakly as Kalani released her hand, that arm moving to sit across her shoulders instead.

“We’re going shopping.” Kalani declared, flicking her bag over towards one of the wooden seats. “Anyone wanna come with?”

“Nah.” Amets shook his head, stooping to pick up another lump of dirt off the ground. “You’d make me hold the bags again.”

“We only made you hold them while we were trying things on.” Cam smiled, lobbing a rock into the middle of the target circle.

“It’s food shopping.” Kalani added, and every head turned towards them. Kyla set her bag on the ground, then picked it back up again. Leaving a bag of food in the woods was probably about as dumb as leaving unattended meat near Luffy, and would likely have the same result. She let the Square Knots’ chatter wash over and around her as they headed back out of the woods, this time towards the town, and patted the pocket with her cash in it. Four thousand beri and change should be enough to buy water and lasting food for the trip home. She should probably get double the minimum, though. Without a log pose and pose magnet she’d have to eyeball it, which left plenty of room for error.

“Ky?” Kalani waved her hand in front of Kyla’s face, and she jolted a bit mid-step.

“Wha?”

“I asked what sort of stuff you’re looking to get.” the navigator said, obviously repeating an earlier question Kyla hadn’t heard. Gods, she was off her game today. She had to get her head back on straight, or she wouldn’t be fit to sail through the night.

“Oh, well, nothing that needs refrigeration, obviously.” she started, looking ahead past Moana and Cam arguing about something frivolous. “Nothing that needs to be cooked before eating, or _needs_ to be eaten with utensils. Stuff that’ll last a few weeks in less-than-optimal conditions. Travelling food, y’know?” she shrugged. Mom had made trail mix once a year or two ago when they landed on an uninhabited island, and even though she and Zoro had gotten lost in the dense forest for a whole week their portions had still been sitting in the pantry when they got back.

“And water, of course.” Amets chimed in.

“Well duh.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “Only the dumbest idiots set sail without water. Even _Luffy_ isn’t that stupid.”

“I still can’t believe your idiot brother is the Pirate King.” Kalani mused.

“I’d say I can’t either, but...” Kyla paused and looked up towards the canopy, the golden green sunlight filtering down through layers upon layers of leaves, and a smile flickered over her face. “He was always gonna be the King of the Pirates.”

“Always?” Kalani raised an eyebrow.

“Always.” Kyla said firmly, nodding her head once. “If we come this way after everyone is back together, you’ll understand.”

Kalani shrugged, and as they exited the woods between two buildings the navigator grabbed her by the hand. Kyla nearly squeaked, but instead just gripped back as she was dragged between the still-bickering Moana and Cam out onto a side street. “There’s a bakery around here that makes this really good stuff called seabread.” Kalani said, looking over her shoulder and smiling. “You’ll love it.”

Kyla nodded mutely, and picked up the pace so she was walking briskly next to her friend. Her mouth felt dry all of a sudden, and her hand kinda felt like it was on fire where the navigator was holding it. Her skin felt as hot as it did when she practiced _Furaribi_ , but without any of the pain. It was weird, and made her heart slam against the inside of her ribs, but she could still mostly breathe and her hands weren’t shaking.

Was this what it was like to have a best friend? It hadn’t felt like this when she’d been holding hands with Little Sanji, but that had been different. Little Sanji had been her mom who didn’t remember her, and she’d only known him for about a month at that point. Kalani had been her friend for months, and her best friend since the day she slammed Amets headfirst into the lunch table. Little Sanji hadn’t been her Best Friend, just her best at the time, that made sense. But if this was what it was like to have a best friend, she wasn’t sure why anybody would want one. She almost felt ready to puke, and if she focused too hard on how uneven her breathing was she might stop breathing entirely.

Hopefully it would wear off soon, or she might have to take her hand out of Kalani’s. And if this was her last chance to have best friend moments with the cute navigator she didn’t want to miss a second of it.

\---

Kyla gripped the mooring rope, and began unknotting it. She had about an hour to leave if she wanted to use the setting sun as a compass, and a large part of that would be rowing around to the southern end of the island.

“Where is it?” Kalani asked, and Kyla paused to look at her best friend. The navigator had laid everything in her brown bag out on the front bench of the boat Moana had given her- _given_ , for free!- to sail home, and was staring at the collection of snack foods with an adorable look of consternation on her pretty face.

“Where’s what?”

“Your pose and magnet.” Kalani looked up, pale brown eyes meeting Kyla’s darker ones. “Did they get left at the fort?”

“Oh.” Kyla went back to unwinding the mooring rope. “It was that or food, and I know Ialst is south of here so I can just use the sun as my compass.” she threw the first line into the boat, and Kalani picked it up but didn’t start coiling.

“You can’t be serious!” the navigator cried. “ _I_ couldn’t navigate there without a pose and magnet, and you’re a swordswoman not a navigator!”

“I have to get back there.” Kyla slammed her fist against the ground, fingernails digging into her calloused palm. “They’ll be back in two weeks, and if I’m not there-” her throat closed up, and she swallowed a sob before returning to the knot. She was a swordsman, dammit. She wouldn’t cry, she _wouldn’t_.

“If you try to leave now you’ll get lost in the open ocean, and then they’ll never find you!” Kalani looped the rope around one of the posts on the shitty little dock and tied a quick knot. “You need to think these things through, Ky.”

“I don’t have the time!” Kyla shot to her feet, and gripped her first sword’s hilt so tight the knuckles of her left hand went pale. “I can’t stay here, Kalani.” she felt tears welling in her eyes, and did her best to blink them back. “I’m not _like_ you guys. I don’t belong on this island, in these stupid clothes.” she tugged at her uniform shirt, but didn’t pull it off. “I’m supposed to be back on Ialst taking care of the Sunny and instead I’m here playing pretend!” she trembled, voice cracking, and sank to her knees in the face of Kalani’s pitying expression. “I wanna go _home_.” she gasped, bringing a hand up to scrub at her eyes, warding off tears. Swordsmen didn’t cry. “I wanna be Kyla again.” 

Kalani made a sympathetic sound, the boat rocking as she climbed out of it, and Kyla tensed as soft brown arms wrapped around her shoulders and waist. “It’s okay.” the navigator murmured, stroking her head. “It’s okay, Ky. La.” she tacked the second syllable on awkwardly, and somehow that hurt more than being called the wrong name all the time.

Kyla’s chest shuddered with a sob she couldn’t suppress, but she didn’t lean into or return the embrace, despite how much she kinda wanted to just collapse and let Kalani comfort her like she’d done after the incident with Amets. “I need to be there, or they’ll never find me.” she sniffled. Her nose was running. She wiped it on her shirtsleeve.

“Now that’s a lie.” Kalani’s voice was firm, the tone she used when scolding her brother for something stupid. She pulled back, and Kyla was startled to see the tears in her friend’s eyes. “The Pirate King you’ve told us about would never let anyone take some of his treasure. Not even the smallest bit.”

Kyla chuckled at that, and extracted herself from Kalani’s warm embrace. “I still should go, though.”

“No.” Kalani grabbed her hand, and Kyla ducked her head.

“I need to be there.”

“No, you don’t.” Kalani grabbed her other hand, and Kyla’s stomach flipped as her fingers were twined with her best friend’s. “You can stay here and wait for them. You promised to keep safe, right?”

Kyla nodded.

“Then stay. We may not be a big famous crew like your family is, but we protect our nakama too.” Kalani smiled, warm and somehow reassuring despite the circumstances. “And when the Pirate King gets here, we’ll make sure you get back on that ship.”

Kyla hesitantly grinned back, and Kalani squeezed her hands before letting go of one of them. “Now c’mon, you’ve gotta be back by curfew if you’re not leaving.” the paler girl stood, and Kyla allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. The thought of the Straw Hats deciding she’d left of her own accord still weighed on her wind, but there was logic behind Kalani’s words. She would have to look into stealing a log pose and pose magnet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is my personal headcanon that in order to navigate backward on the Grand Line, you simply stick a special magnet to the bottom of your log pose. While the magnet is on, the needle will align to the previous magnetic field instead of the next, or previous fields if you’re using a New World log pose. For simplicity’s sake, I am calling these things pose magnets. Also, I don’t think _any_ of the Straw Hats know how Luffy initially set sail. Coby might have some idea, but until they get back to Dawn Island to pay off his treasure tab (because that’s _going_ to happen lbr) I doubt any of his crew will hear about the rowboat he set out in at first.
> 
> Also, holy shit Education now makes up half this fic. I did _not_ intend to spend so much time on Yabus, but Kyla and the Square Knots kinda grabbed the narrative and ran with it.


	38. Age 13: Education Part 19

“Can anybody tell me what -4x2+12x+7 factors out to?” Miss Omik asked, turning from the blackboard to look at the class as she finished writing out the simple equation. No hands went up, and the teacher sighed. “Miss Aydin, what was the answer to question 3 from last night’s homework?”

A girl halfway back from the front just on the left half of the room startled, eyes widening. “Huh? Me?” she squeaked, pale face acne-ridden going notably paler.

“Yes.” Miss Omik sighed, sounding incredibly tired.

“Um, negative two X minus one times-”

The door slammed open, and all eyes flew to the massive man standing in the entrance to their classroom as the poor girl in the middle of the room made an impossibly high pitched squeak. “More brats!” the man called into the hall, and Kyla’s stomach dropped. This guy was a pirate, and he didn’t look like he belonged to any of the crews in the Grand Fleet. This couldn’t be good.

“Get ‘em lined up, I’ll be right there.” another voice said from the hallway, and Kyla flashed clear armament haki under her clothes when the pirate in the doorway lifted a gun.

“You heard ‘im.” he gestured with the barrel. “Line up, backs to the windows.”

“Do what he says, class.” Miss Omik said, her voice far steadier than Kyla felt. She stood silently, pencil gripped tight in her hand, and shuffled over to the windows with the rest of her class. Desks were shoved aside, pushed towards the front and back of the room and leaving the space feeling somehow both empty and cluttered. She could take this guy no problem if she had even one of her swords, but all she had was Sengo’s ornament on her wrist and a shank made of a warped plastic cafeteria knife in her left pocket. Well, there was also the graphite pencil in her hand and the eyebrow pencil in her other shorts pocket, but those weren’t weapons.

Kalani was trembling next to her, their shoulders practically touching, and Kyla grabbed her friend’s hand. The navigator stilled as Kyla wove their fingers together and gave Kalani’s hand a squeeze. The paler girl squeezed back, and gave Kyla a shaky smile before the hulking stinking pirate stopped in front of them with a leer directed at the curvier girl.

“What’s this, a coupla little dykes?” he sneered, grabbing a chunk of Kalani’s lovely deep brown hair and lifting his hand until the navigator was forced onto her toes. “Might ask the captain about keeping you.” his other hand reached for Kalani’s shirt, and Kyla saw red.

“Let go of her!” she yelled, black armament haki flashing over her left hand and the pencil clutched in it. She launched herself up, and brought her pencil down on the man’s face. It sank into his right eye, and there was a burst of warm fluid on her hand before the lead drove through the back of his eye socket and her fist slammed into his skull. She landed back on the floor with her armament haki dissipated and hands empty, and placed herself between the screaming pirate and her best friend.

“You **motherfucker**!” he bellowed, clutching at his face.

“Touch her again, and you’ll wish I’d killed you.” Kyla snarled, balling her hands into fists.

“What’s this?” the voice from the hall echoed through the room, and Kyla flashed her fists with invisible haki. If this asshole so much as _looked_ funny at Kalani, she’d beat him to death with her bare hands.

“Hey!” Moana said loudly from a bit further down the line, and Kyla’s eyes snapped to the young captain. “What crew are you assholes from?” he snapped, a surprising amount of authority in his tone. Huh, when had he gotten better at his captain voice? She hadn’t noticed.

“The Golden Raiders.” the second pirate smiled, and a chill ran down Kyla’s spine. The first one had collapsed against the desks near the front of the room, now just whimpering quietly, but the newcomer didn’t even spare him a glance. Weren’t they from the same crew? He should be at least a _little_ bit worried about his nakama!

“Well this island is _our_ turf.” Moana declared, still using his captain voice. “And our swordswoman is better than any you have on your stinky crew, so you morons should clear out before she rips your balls off and stuffs them down your throat!”

The second pirate blinked a few times, then started laughing, a sick wheezing keh zeezeezee which made Kyla wish she still had her pencil. Or even better, three sayas on her hip and her first two swords in hand.

“You mean that nigger?” he sneered, levelling a finger at Kyla so there was no doubt it was her that word was referring to. “What pathetic excuse for a sword brat doesn’t have so much as a knife?”

“I don’t need a knife to kill you.” Kyla snapped, her voice thankfully steady.

“Neither do I!” Cam shouted, and an algebra textbook flew across the room. The pirate caught it before it struck him in the face, and pitched it back into Cam’s gut hard enough that she sank down against the wall under the window.

“Hey, ugly!” Moana yelled, charging towards the pirate with Amets on his heels. “Don’t fuck with my crew!”

“Don’t hurt my nakama!” Amets yelled at almost the same time, and Kyla went tense as the man drew a gun. The hilt slammed into each boy’s head once, and they slumped to the ground unconscious. Miss Omik was making concerned noises, some of the other kids were whimpering, a few were crying quietly, but Kalani was deathly still behind her.

“He’s mine.” the navigator hissed as the man holstered his pistol and stepped over Moana’s groaning form to approach them.

“Girls!” Miss Omik snapped, and Kalani stilled before she moved from behind Kyla. “Don’t fight, you’ll just get yourselves hurt.”

“Listen to the Marine bitch, little girlies.” the pirate sneered. “I’d hate to break such pretty faces as yours before we get to have any fun.” he gripped Kyla’s chin, filthy fingers digging into her cheeks, and she bared her teeth at him with a low growl. If only he was in biting range she would’ve torn a chunk out of his hand. See how much fun he’d be having missing a finger or two.

“Get your hands off her, or I’ll be the one making good on my brother’s threat.” Kalani said, her tone cold as ice.

Kyla grinned, and made it as demonic as she could. “I’d listen to her.” she said, not unclenching her teeth. Huh, so long as there wasn’t a sword in the way she could make herself perfectly understandable. The man snorted, obviously not impressed, and let her go with a shove that sent her stumbling back into Kalani.

“Marine bitch.” he snapped, and Kyla tuned out his voice as Kalani helped her back to her feet.

“You okay?” the navigator asked, gorgeous brown eyes wide and fearful, flicking over Kyla’s face like she was looking for something.

“I’m fine.” Kyla grinned, aiming for reassuring. “Takes more than a little man-handling to keep me down.”

\---

It wasn’t until almost half an hour later that they finally reached the gymnasium, where it seemed like most of the school had been gathered under the watch of half a dozen armed men. Kyla glared as her arms were tied behind her back, the position wrenching her shoulders back uncomfortably, but at least nobody touched Kalani. The navigator was halfway carrying her brother, Cam doing the same with Amets, and the five of them were herded into a corner away from the rest of their class.

The kids already in that area were all roughed up, split lips and black eyes and one was nursing a gash down her arm with a sour look on her face. Kyla recognized her from detention, along with a few others. These were the troublemakers, the ones who probably tried to fight back when their classrooms were invaded by pirates. It made no sense, herding them all into one spot. There was only one gun, and at least twenty of them, and she knew from experience that moving targets were way harder to hit than stationary ones, even if they were moving towards you.

“You brats stay here.” the man herding them said firmly, and Kyla sank slowly into a kneel. Her shoulders were starting to ache now, and she had a feeling if she struggled too much she’d dislocate her left one again.

“Can I at least untie Ky?” Cam asked, earning a glare. To her credit, the pink haired girl didn’t even flinch. “The way you’ve tied her arms, she could be seriously hurt if the ropes don’t come off soon.”

“I’m fine, Cam.” Kyla said quickly as the man’s hand drifted towards his gun.

“Maybe you are _now_ , but-”

“I’m fine.” she snapped at the young medic, shifting so she was no longer kneeling on her feet and looking up at their guard. “I’m already bound and disarmed. Don’t you have other children to threaten?”

He snorted, and walked off towards the doors where another class was being herded in. Kalani punched her in the arm, and immediately looked regretful when she winced. “Why’d you do that?” she hissed a second later, regret apparently forgotten.

“He was going to shoot Cam!” Kyla shot back. “I can deal with being sore tomorrow, but letting the medic get shot is a terrible plan!”

“A sellsword is still a swordsman.” Amets muttered, pushing himself up off the floor to sit cross legged. “She was just doing her job, Kalani.”

“Wha?” Moana groaned, pushing himself up as well, slumped forward slightly with his legs splayed out in front of him.”What job, what’d I miss?”

Amets sighed, and fixed his captain with an exasperated glare. “It’s a swordsman’s duty to stand between their nakama and danger.” he said, in the tone of someone who’d repeated himself multiple times before.

“You’re not my nakama.” Kyla snapped automatically. “I just don’t wanna see my friends get hurt.”

“That’s basically nakamaship.” Moana waved his hand dismissively, and Kyla bristled but held her tongue. Even if he wasn’t her captain, Moana was still _a_ captain, so she’d argue her point after he was filled in on their current situation. “What danger?”

“That guy who pistol whipped you has friends.” Kalani said, jerking her head towards the door. “Lots of ‘em.”

Moana looked around the room, and his mouth pulled into a small frown which was identical to Kalani’s frustrated one but significantly less cute. “Well, shit.”

“Got that right.” Cam huffed.

“What do we do now?” Kyla asked pointedly, when it became obvious Moana wasn’t going to say something without prodding.

“Why’re you asking me?” the amateur shipwright squawked.

“You’re supposed to be the captain here, aren’t you?” she shifted and kicked his ankle.

“You’re the one who’s actually done shit like this!” he fired back, returning her kick.

“No I haven’t!” she kicked him again, harder, then pulled her legs in out of his range. “I don’t make a _habit_ of getting captured, believe it or not.”

“You could work together, you know.” Kalani suggested with a roll of her eyes.

“You brats wouldn’t be planning anything over here, would ya?” the man who’d walked them down from their classroom sneered, pushing the top two members of the kendo club to their knees in the trouble-makers’ corner.

“Just talking about our captain’s newest project idea.” Cam said smoothly, pasting on a bright smile.

“Good.” the man leered, leaning down over the petit medic. “I’d hate to kill a cutie like you.”

“Back off, shitface.” Kyla snapped, yanking at her ropes.

“Yeah, don’t fuck with our nakama.” Amets snapped, shooting to his feet. The man’s gun was unholstered and in his face almost faster than Kyla could track with her eyes, and she scrambled to get her feet under herself without overbalancing.

“Sit down, or I blow your brains out.” the pirate snarled. Kyla tipped backwards, and spun the momentum from twisting to land on her side into a flailing kick which knocked Amets on his ass. The man standing over them laughed, and Kyla forced herself not to look at him but she could see the gun lower in her peripheral vision. “Nigger’s got the right idea. Stay where you belong, and you might live to see tomorrow.”

They sat in stony silence after that, and Kyla watched as the pirates brought in the rest of the school. The teachers were lined up along one wall, and after the third group of upperclassmen was brought in she realized the wall of teachers had some twelfth-year students in the mix. The upperclassmen were seated with the more battered teachers, and when the gymnasium doors were sealed Kyla’s stomach dropped.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Kalani muttered under her breath. Moana nodded, and Kyla felt a chill run down her spine. Even without Observing, she could tell something was about to happen.

“Marines and Marine brats.” an unfamiliar voice rang out of the baby denden mushi used to broadcast the bells signalling the start and end of each period. “You may have noticed a slight, disruption, in your schedule.”

The pirates by the doors chuckled, and one of them pulled four of the battered teachers to their feet, along with two upperclassmen.

“As some of you no doubt can tell, we’re from the Golden Raider Pirates.” the disembodied voice continued. “Our captain has decided to claim this island, so until the Marine base falls you lot are our hostages.” the pirates who didn’t already have a gun drawn drew one, and Kyla’s stomach dropped as she realized what was coming. “And just so you know what’ll happen to you if you try to do something as stupid as escape, or fight back.” six shots echoed through the gym almost simultaneously, drowning out whatever the man on the denden mushi was saying. The teachers and students collapsed, large chunks of their foreheads and faces missing, and the room erupted in terrified screams. Even the Square Knots were yelling, but Kyla just gritted her teeth and glared. Two more gunshots rang out a few seconds later, and the room went deathly silent. Even the baby denden mushi was quiet.

“Now that we’re all clear, I hope we can get through this without anyone being an idiot.” the man who seemed to be more or less in charge said as he lowered his gun and holstered it, still missing three shots. “It’s been awhile since we had fresh meat, and Captain’ll want his pick when he’s done with the base in town.”

The man who’d herded them from their classroom came to stand near their corner again, and after several long uncomfortable minutes Kyla scooted over to sit in front of Kalani. “I’ve got a plan.” she hissed under her breath, keeping her eyes on the floor. “Get the knife in my left pocket.”

“What?” Kalani squeaked, barely audible.

“Get it, and put it in my hands.”

“O-okay.” Kalani said, and stuck her hand in the pocket of Kyla’s shorts. Ten seconds later Kyla had her fingers wrapped around the plastic knife handle, and began gently sawing at the ropes around her wrists.

“Moana, get over here.” she hissed, jerking her head to the side to indicate he move closer. All the Square Knots did, clustering behind her, and Kalani undid her ponytail to start finger-combing her hair.

“Got a plan?” Moana breathed, heel of his shoe squeaking against the floor..

“I can take these guys if I can get my swords.” Kyla said simply, keeping her voice low as she laid out the plan.

“That sounds doable.” Moana agreed, and scooted away. “So, I forget, what position did you play when we did floor hockey?”

“Midfield, I think?” Kyla shrugged, adjusting her grip on the knife. A serrated edge would really help right now, but the touch of haki she’d smoothed across the blade was definitely making a difference.

“Like, twice.” Kalani rolled her eyes, not stopping in her finger-combing. “You always wanted to be center offense.”

“Oh, right.” Kyla chuckled. “Never scored a goal, though.”

“Yeah, ‘cuz I was the goalie.” Kalani said smugly, smirk audible in her tone.

“Please, when it was us three on offense you didn’t stand a chance.” Amets cut in.

“Not against Cam, no.” Kalani huffed, removing her hands and scooting back just a bit. “She’s vicious!”

“Damn straight I am.” the medic preened, and sure maybe they sounded just a bit too cavalier for hostages but Moana had declared them as pirates and, well, the Golden Raiders were living proof that pirates tended to be stupid. Kyla felt the last of the fibers in the rope snapping, and made sure not to let her shoulders slump forward as she started loosening her bonds.

“Now.” she hissed, and the Square Knots were on their feet in seconds.

“Hey, assface!” Kalani called, and the man guarding them turned to face the four teens running his way, splitting up to flank him.

Kyla forced herself to run as soon as her arms were free, and slipped inside the sports supply closet through the half-open door. The door pulled shut easily, though she couldn’t lock it from inside, and after pocketing her knife she squeezed between stacks of blue floor mats to get to the back of the small room, where another door was set into the wall. It opened easily enough, and as soon as she was out she shut it behind herself. The bathroom was empty, and Kyla slid her rope bindings into the back corner of the handicapped stall before heading towards the windows. These ones weren’t alarmed in any way, and by perching herself on the edge of the sinks she could slide one fully open.

Hauling herself up and through was easy as pie, and when she hit the ground outside the window Kyla landed in a forward tumble, hair flying everywhere. Damn, all her spare hair ties were in her dorm room, so she’d have to remember to account for her hair being all over the place. A gunshot rang out from behind her, and she took off for the woods. If that bastard had so much as scratched Kalani, he’d be paying for it with his life.

Her training clearing was as easy to find as ever, her swords shining like a warm golden beacon in her mind, and as Kyla pulled Sengo from the tree she paused. The docks were probably completely vacant right now, and the gate was almost definitely unguarded. She could steal a ship and sail home absolutely unobstructed, maybe even find a grown denden mushi to swipe so she could call the Sunny and tell her family where to pick her up. She wouldn’t have another chance this good, well, ever. Her freedom was dangling right in front of her, but if she left now she’d be leaving Kalani at the mercy of the Golden Raiders. She couldn’t do that, not with the way those men had been leering at her best friend. Marines were all but useless in a situation like this, and even if she thought they could defeat a crew like this, what sort of friend would she be to let her friends be rescued by _Marines_?

Kyla shifted her clothing until her haramaki was sitting over her shirt and shorts, and hung all three of her swords from their hoops as quick as she could manage. As she was shoving the wooden plug back in place to keep the interior of the tree dry in case of sudden rain, an idea came to mind. She could do this as herself, intimidate these shitty Golden Raiders with the knowledge that they were facing one of the Pirate King’s nakama and get them off balance for long enough to be certain she’d have the upper hand.

The old cleaning supplies she’d nicked from a janitor’s closet were still sitting in the bottom of the tree trunk, and she used one of them to scrub her fake eyebrows off. Her first sword served as a sufficient mirror, and she carefully etched familiar curls onto her bare forehead. Normally she wouldn’t bother with such a small detail, but she was outnumbered by opponents much larger than herself, and a good number of them had guns. Maybe all of them, but she didn’t know how many were in the principal’s office with the school’s main denden mushi or how they were armed. She didn’t have backup, didn’t have any significant advantage except her slight infamy by association and the fact that they wouldn’t expect her.

Once her eyebrows were properly curling across her face for the first time in months, Kyla sheathed her first sword and started back towards the school building. She had some friends to save.

\---

Fux Jordanes looked down at the little girl who had planted herself in the middle of the path up to the Marine building. She held two swords in a ready position, shaking slightly, and he laid a hand on the hilt of his own weapon. “Move.” he said, glaring at her. She didn’t even flinch, instead steadying her swords and tilting them closer to an aggressive stance.

“No.” she said, and her voice was quite a bit younger than he’d expected. She lifted her chin, and met his glare with an absolutely ferocious expression. “I’m Vinsmoke Kyla, daughter of Black Leg Sanji and student of Roronoa Zoro.” she paused for a second, and actually had the gall to _smirk_ at him. “The Pirate King isn’t here right now, but he’ll be back by the end of the day, and I doubt you small fry will want to be here when that happens.” she relaxed her stance, turned her body almost sideways to them, and lifted her left sword to point at his face. “Just leave now, while you still have your lives, and I won’t even tell my captain that some incompetent shitheads like you tried to take me on.” the girl looked up the length of her sword, and smiled sweetly. “Oh, and take your crew with. They’re making the whole building stink even worse than Marines do.”

Her sword shook slightly, and Jordanes glared down it at her. “As if.” he drew his sword, and batted hers aside with the back of the blade. “No member of the Pirate King’s crew would be wearing a Marine uniform.” he laughed, short and derisive, and the three men behind him followed suite. “And he won’t be coming here to save a little liar like you.” he grinned. “Not while his precious Grand Fleet is under attack.” he lowered his sword to her chest level, then lifted the tip to rest on the underside of her chin. “Now be a good girl and step aside, or I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

The brat smirked, lifting her swords, and rested one unwavering blade on top of his. “What a pity.” she said, the smirk spreading slowly into a smile which Jordanes could only describe as demonic. Her strength was inhuman, forcing his sword down without shifting her stance at all, even as he put all of his strength into keeping it in place. “I just washed this shirt yesterday.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” one of the men behind him asked.

“Well, you see.” she stepped back, and unsheathed the third sword hanging from her haramaki. “It’s just so irritating to get the bloodstains out.”

“Wha- What are you?” Jordanes spluttered, gesturing for his men to fan out and surround the girl. The way her eyes shone sent chills down his spine worse than any of the Yonku. So much bloodlust in such a small body, there was no way she was anything but a demon.

“A Straw Hat.” she answered, and placed the third sword in her mouth.

 **Shit**.

\---

Kyla hadn’t had this much fun in _ages_. She laughed, and flashed her swords with deep red armament haki. Better safe than sorry, when using the few Santoryu techniques Zoro had actually taught her. She lifted the swords in her hands so their blades were in front of Hibiki’s, and mumbled “ _Tora Gari_.” into the tachi’s hilt. She swung them forwards and down as hard as she could, and as blood spurted from the shoulders and chests of two enemies in front of her she turned to face the two remaining. They were closing fast, one armed with a sword and the other with some sort of axe on a stick. Best to deal with that one without stepping into his range, and she’d just finally gotten the hang of a move which should do just that.

“ _Miaka Dan_.” she snarled, raising the swords in her hands over her left shoulder so their blades aligned with Hibiki’s. Taking a single step forward, she threw her whole body weight into a spin and sent a trio of compressed air blades spiralling towards the man. He went down like a sack of exceptionally bloody bricks, and she used her momentum to turn 90 degrees and block their captain’s wide swing at her head. Or at least she was pretty sure he was their captain. He’d been walking in front, and his coat was on his shoulders, so probably.

Upside to using santoryu, she could take down men three times her size in a single hit. Downside, she still hadn’t figured out what kind of trick Zoro used to speak clearly with a sword in his mouth. So instead of saying anything she just snarled wordlessly, blocked another swing aimed at her head, and pushed back against her enemy’s sword as hard as she could. His blade gained a pair of nicks where hers had been, and as he staggered back she crossed the swords in her hands over her chest. No need to go completely overboard, but maybe just a little wouldn’t hurt.

“De-Demon!” the man yelled, brandishing his sword wildly.

“ _Yaki Oni Giri_.” she said into Hibiki’s hilt, channeling her rage and bloodlust into the blades of her swords. Her enemy’s eyes widened at the first flicker along Sengo’s edge, and then two racing heartbeats later all three of her swords were on fire. The heat licked at her hands and the left side of her face, flames teasing at her loose hair, and she lunged forward. Three steps and she was going at top speed, five and she was close enough to her target that the flames were licking at him as well. Her swords cut into him on the sixth step, through him on the seventh, and on the ninth she let the flames go out. Ten steps from where she’d started, she turned on the ball of her foot and crossed her arms, ignoring the pain of fresh burns as she surveyed her handiwork.

The first two guys were moaning weakly in pools of blood, and the third wasn’t moving even a little. She released her armament haki, took a deep breath, and concentrated really hard. Yeah, two dying one dead. And the fourth guy, though moaning in pain, wasn’t bleeding. Kyla grinned, sheathed Hibiki and her first sword, and skipped over to lay Sengo on his neck. The wounds had instantly seared shut, and his clothes were still on fire a little bit.

“What rank do you hold in the Golden Raiders?” she asked, planting a heel on his wrist when he reached for his sword.

“Fuck off and die, demon cunt.” he spat.

Kyla frowned, and leaned more weight on the heel pinning his wrist. “Tell me, or I’ll make your life even more painful than it already is.” she summoned up a vicious smirk with ease, keeping her eyes wide enough to make it look all the more dangerous.

“Ow, fuck!” the man swore, trying to pull his arm free. “Fucking- I’m the vice-captain.” he yelled. Kyla lowered her eyelids slightly, turning her demonic smile into a smug one.

“Great. I’m sure your crewmates inside the school would love to have you back.” she pulled Sengo back a bit, and prodded him in the chest. “On your feet.”

He stood with a muffled whine of pain, and Kyla directed him to start towards the main building. At the door she drew her other two swords, keeping her first weapon in her palm and Hibiki at her fingertips to better place it in her mouth should negotiations go wrong. And if experience had taught her anything, it was that violence was usually the final answer in situations like these.

There was only one man guarding the door, and when Kyla lifted Sengo to rest his blade against the vice-captain’s neck she was quickly led to the principal’s office. There were three men inside, plus the one hovering outside the door, and all of them fell silent when they realized who she was holding at sword-point.

“I’m here to make a trade.” she said as confidently as she could manage. Two of the men in the room looked to the third, who gave her a blank look for a second before laughing. He didn’t believe her? Kyla pressed Sengo against the vice-captain’s neck, angling her wrist so the drops of blood which trickled down his blade were fully visible to the enemies in front of her. “A hostage trade.” she said more firmly.

Shit, how many people was this guy’s life worth? Definitely the Square Knots, but the mooks in here had laughed at her, so... “Let the kids under close watch walk out the front door, unaccompanied, and I’ll give him back alive.”

The mook in charge laughed again, and pulled out a gun from somewhere behind himself. “You think I care if that asshole lives or dies?” he cocked the weapon, and Kyla pulled up as thick a layer of armament haki as she could manage on the front of her body. Pulling her arms in to guard more effectively was almost instinct at this point, and Sengo’s spark of glee followed by a thump announced that her hostage was now dead. A bang followed almost instantly, and Kyla had the air driven out of her as a bullet struck her chest. It bounced off her armament haki, landing on the floor with a metallic pling, and she twisted her hand to put Hibiki in her mouth. Diplomacy. as always, had failed. Time to settle this like a pirate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those things I’ve been really excited to post. Kyla finally gets a proper fight of her own! She knows negotiation is an option, but growing up with the Straw Hats she’s never actually seen a negotiation that doesn’t just end in violence and bloodshed anyways. Fux is a [real last name](http://surnames.behindthename.com/name/fux), I swear. _Tora Gari_ is one of Zoro’s actual moves, and since he first used it way back on Syrup I figure it’s probably simple enough for Kyla to know. _Yaki Oni Giri_ is also one of Zoro’s moves, basically Oni Giri but on fire. _Miaka Dan_ is derived from Mie Taka Dan, which translates to Triple Hawk Shot, and it’s very similar to Phoenix Cannon. Lots of her moves are similar to Zoro’s, since there’s only so many ways to swing a set of swords, but she’s not capable of pulling them off with as much destructive power as him so they get their own names.


	39. Age 13: Education Part 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ll have noticed that this story now has an archive warning for graphic violence. If you’re squeamish, Ctrl+F for the word footfalls. That’ll get you past the worst of it.

The man with the gun fired again, and Kyla concentrated her armament haki from the top of her haramaki to the top of her head, leaving her arms unguarded. That shot and the next two forced her back a step, though the bullets thankfully bounced right off of her chest, and she used the remainder of her willpower to give each of her swords a light coat of invisible haki. No need to overexert herself on these shitheads when there were still the pirates in the gym to deal with. The man in the hallway was yelling for backup, and two of the three men in the office were coming at her with swords while the third reloaded his gun.

“ _Fudō Tora_.” she breathed into Hibiki’s hilt, bringing up the swords in her hands to block the first strike aimed at her. The second man swung at her back, and she stepped in closer to the first one to evade the attack. Her swords slipped easily out of the guard as she ducked in towards his chest, and a quick clockwise turn brought Hibiki into his ribcage. A moment later it passed out the other side, and blood sprayed from the wound like a particularly gory sprinkler. He made a gurgling sound as he fell, his blood adding thick constellations of wet freckles to the ink-dark ones already on her face, and Kyla smiled around her third sword. One down, three to go.

The second swordsman struck her in the back of the neck as she sidestepped his comrade’s falling body, and Kyla staggered forward a few steps. She was bleeding. He had his sword coated in haki? Admittedly it didn’t take much to overpower hers when she was spreading it so thin, but she hadn’t pegged these guys as the type to be capable of using it. She spun to face him, and barely managed to block as a loud crack filled the room and the accompanying bullet ripped through her right arm. Fuck, the lead mook had reloaded! She gripped Sengo tighter, and screamed wordlessly into Hibiki’s hilt. She was a Straw Hat, the sole student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman. She would not fall here; not on this island, not in this uniform, and _certainly_ not to idiots like these.

“ _Senpū Tsume_.” she shouted, though the sword in her mouth mangled the words into an incoherent roar. She held her swords out, and began to spin. The air in front of the blades compressed, then splintered off, and after a few revolutions the air around her was full of air blades as sharp and strong as the haki-coated weapons they’d sheared off of. The men were staggering back, swearing profusely, and Kyla broke from her rotation to fling herself at the one with a gun. He was the most troublesome, and therefore needed to die first.

“ _Gazami Dori_.” she flipped Sengo so its blade was pointed forwards, parallel to both the ground and her other swords, and brought the swords in her hands forwards as she jerked her head to the right. All three of her swords struck her target’s chest, and she dropped the haki coating her body to pour all her effort into her blades. The metal darkened, silver turning to deep desaturated red underneath the smears of blood, and she pressed harder. The man yelped, arching forward as Sengo broke through his haki-coated skin, and blood spurted from the wound as her second sword slipped between his fifth and sixth ribs. Her first followed right after, his haki evaporating in the face of pain like a total loser, and damn she’d have to get her hands on some of that hydro-oxy shit at this rate. Not just for her shirt but for the hilts of her swords as well.

The man abruptly stopped moving, and she guessed that Sengo had sliced right through his heart. Her first two swords met at his spine, and as Kyla drew them out they made a squelching sound which once might’ve made her queasy. Now though, with her swords in hand and thirsty for blood, it made her laugh. The top third or so of his body tipped backwards, the rest of him crumpling down and sideways, and Kyla was pretty sure those were his lungs. They were a lot redder in person than in the anatomy book Chopper had.

The third man almost clipped her with his big bladeless weapon, which would’ve been extra bad since all her armament haki was in her blades, and Kyla giggled around Hibiki’s hilt as she leapt closer. “ _Oni Giri_.” he fell, and she dropped her armament haki to Observe the room. The first guy was bleeding out and unconscious, but the other two were soundly dead. Aaand, the one who’d been out in the hallway yelling for backup was about to try running her through with a sword bigger than she was.

Kyla spun around, pulled a coat of armament haki over the front of her body from waist to shoulders, and leaned forward so she wouldn’t be knocked flat on her ass. She skidded back all the way to the wall, her boots slipping through puddles of blood, and Kyla winced when her shoulders hit the bricks. His haki had been stronger than hers, more black than red, and now there was a gash from her belly button all the way up to her sternum. Fuck, that hurt. She’d probably need stitches. And a new shirt, the way she was bleeding all over this one.

Big-sword guy was yelling some shit about taking her head back to his captain on a pike, and Kyla gripped her swords with renewed strength. She could worry about blood loss and the state of her internal organs later. Right now she needed to take this fucker down, and fast. He was readying for some fancy attack, so she could definitely get some momentum up in closing the distance between them. Or she could try to pull off _Taka Dan_ , but with the way she’d just been stabbed that’d be a bad plan. Close-quarters it was, which was actually a bit of a bonus since she had more than enough rage in her to pull off _that_ again.

“ _Yaki Oni Giri_.” she growled, holding her crossed swords close enough that the flames licked at her shirt. It took six quick steps to build up her momentum on the blood-slick floor, but the step after that the toe of her boot found no purchase and she pitched forward with a shout. Sword in each hand, sword in her mouth, shit this was gonna sting. She caught herself on her knees and elbows, blood splashing up and staining her shirt even further, and the huge sword whistled through the air above her. Damn it! The flames on her swords burned even hotter, and the stench of burning hair joined that of blood and death. She scrambled to her feet, boots sliding slightly on the reddened linoleum, and launched herself forward with her fiercest battle cry.

The man with the big sword collapsed, smouldering slightly where her blades had cut through him, and Kyla spun on one slippery heel to stab her still-burning swords into either side of his neck. She glanced both ways down the hall, and let her armament haki go for a second to concentrate on observation. Four dead in the office, not counting the vice captain, five more coming from her left, and ten from her right. More reinforcements? She snarled, and channeled that wordless frustration into more flames for her still-burning swords. A chunk of hair had fallen in her face when she went down, and a bit of it was smouldering in Hibiki’s flames under her left eye, but there was no time to put it out or brush it back in place now.

The pirates from the gym came around the corner, fully armed and moving fast, and she steadied her stance. This might not work, but if that was the case then she’d just have to hold them off with _Senpū Tsume_ until she could come up with another plan. Lifting her burning swords, Kyla held Sengo just under Hibiki and her first sword just below that. Twisting her body for the swing made the gash on her stomach hurt even worse, but she didn’t let that sudden and burning pain interrupt her scream of “ _Nenshō Miaka Dan!_ ”

Three blades of compressed air left her swords, but instead of their usual nigh-imperceptible blue energy these ones carried a far more tangible glow, like waves of fire curling through the air. They merged, and when the single air blade struck home Kyla had to shield her eyes from the blast of dry heat which plumed down the corridor, carrying bits of debris with it. She let the flames on her swords die out at last, and took a few hesitant steps towards where the pirates had been standing. They sure weren’t standing anymore, their toppled bodies burning merrily, and Kyla laughed. It worked. She’d come up with a completely new move, on the spot, and it had _worked_! Zoro would be so proud when she told him.

Heavy footfalls sounded behind her, and Kyla grimaced as she turned to face them. She was almost out of juice, maybe enough left to deal or take another few blows with her armament haki, but she was fading fast. Couldn’t retreat, though. Not when there was still a pirate standing over her friends with a gun. She settled into an aggressive stance, and tried to summon up the necessary rage to reignite her blades for another _Yaki Oni Giri_. Before she’d managed it, though, the approaching forces rounded the corner. Marines, two deep, blocking the entire hallway as they advanced. She lifted her swords in an X over her chest, but before she could muster up enough power for even a spark the woman front and center took one hand off her gun and lifted it up in a fist.

“Stand down, it’s a student!” she called, and the Marines lowered their weapons.

Kyla’s hands started shaking, and she nearly dropped her first sword before it clicked as to why. Right, she was wearing a school uniform, these Marines wouldn’t try to kill her so long as they thought she was one of their dumb brainwashed islanders. She let her armament haki evaporate into nothing, and raised a hand to rub across her forehead, smearing flame-heated enemy blood over her eyebrows to smudge away the curls while looking like she was wiping away sweat. The Marine woman who’d made her soldiers lower their weapons approached, and crouched about a foot outside of sword’s reach.

“What’s your name, kid?”

Kyla dropped Hibiki into her left hand, ignoring the way her skin screamed when she shifted her grip to accommodate a second sword, and worked her jaw to loosen it back up. “Ky-” she actually bit her tongue stopping herself from completing that answer, and coughed a few times to cover it up. “Runa Ky.” she held herself as straight as she could, and gave a smile more real than any she’d given a Marine in her life. “Thirteen pirates disposed of, ma'am.” she saluted, making sure to use her left hand with both sword blades pointed away from her face, and the Marines a few yards back murmured to each other in distinctly surprised, disbelieving tones.

“Men, move forward to take the gymnasium.” the Marine woman gestured with her hand, and there was a collective **‘** Sir, yes, sir. **’** and proper right-handed salute from the soldiers before they marched on. The woman waited until they’d passed the pile of smoldering corpses to speak again, and by then Kyla was struggling not to sway on her feet as the adrenaline of the fight faded. Damn, armament haki was exhausting!

“How old are you, Ky?” the Marine asked.

“Thirteen.” Kyla answered quickly, letting Sengo’s tip rest on the floor. That bullet wound was really starting to sting now, but at least it was stinging on both sides of her arm, so there wasn’t a slug lodged in her body.

The Marine looked stunned by that, and Kyla wondered how old island-raised Marines usually were when they got to help in a fight for the first time. Probably older than she’d been, that was for sure. Nine year old islanders were wimps. “Come on, I’ll escort you to the infirmary.” the woman said after a moment, and Kyla nodded, sheathing her swords and making a mental note to check for damage when she cleaned them later. If Chopper could see her now, he’d probably yell at her for getting herself shot and stabbed. She giggled, and had to forcibly swallow the laughter which threatened to bubble after.

She’d missed fighting, but only just now was she realizing how _much_ she had missed it. It had been so long since the last time Sengo’s presence was this quiet, this calm, this content. He hummed happily in his saya, knocking against her leg as she walked, and as the last dregs of adrenaline trickled out of her system she felt more at peace than she had since the day she was taken from Ialst. Sure her injuries were starting to hurt like an absolute _asskicking_ , but that was just a list of things she needed to do better next time. She needed to get better at gauging the strength of her armament haki, rather than blindly trusting that it would be stronger than her enemy’s, and she needed to be able to keep it up all over her body for longer periods of time. Also, dodging. She hadn’t even considered sidestepping that thrust which knocked her back against the wall, just stood there and braced herself to take it.

The hallway was almost silent, but despite the lack of ambient noise Kyla couldn’t quite put her finger on what sounded so wrong. The lights in the ceiling were buzzing, her sayas were clacking quietly together, two sets of footsteps, two people breathing, but there was something else which was making her spine prickle. Kyla paused, swaying a little, and listened harder. She couldn’t force herself into the hyper-awareness of observation haki, not after a fight like that, but when the Marine stopped walking it became clear. Something was dripping. Frequent, irregular drops striking the tiled floor. No, now striking a puddle.

Kyla glanced around, then looked down at the ground in front of herself. Oh, blood. That’s what was dripping. She was kinda covered in it, and still bleeding where she got stabbed. Right, that was why they were going to the infirmary. “Stitches.” she mumbled, and the world started to warp in a way that didn’t make any logical sense. Hopefully none of those guys she killed in the office had any blood diseases, Chopper would be upset if she got sick from this. The floor came rushing up at her, and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’m finally getting the hang of writing fight scenes! _Fudō Tora_ translates to Floating Tiger, and is very similar to Zoro’s _Tōrō Nagashi_ except significantly weaker. _Senpū Tsume_ is Whirlwind Talon, and is like a more compact/contained version of Zoro’s _Tatsu Maki_. _Gazami Dori_ translates to Crab Grab, and is actually a canon technique, though Zoro doesn’t usually use it to kill people. _Nenshō Miaka Dan_ is derived from Nenshō Mie Taka Dan, which translates to Triple Burning Hawk Shot, and is currently the most powerful move in Kyla’s Santoryu arsenal. Unfortunately, like with _Yaki Oni Giri_ and _Furaribi_ , the fire on her swords burns her too.


	40. Age 13: Education Part 21

**‘** _Ow, stupid shitty headache_ **’** was the first thing that ran through Kyla’s mind when she woke up. Then the slow, steady beeping in her ear registered, and immediately sped up as her heart leapt in her chest. Hospital. Why was she in a hospital? She sat up, and pain ripped through her abdomen. Right, stab wound, that would be why. She clutched her bandaged hands to it, and fell back onto the bed. She reached for her swords, and her heart sped up all over again when they weren’t at the head of the bed like they always were when she wound up in the infirmary.

Her right wrist was too light as well, the ornament she’d removed from Sengo’s saya missing, and the beeping sped up even more. Her weapons were gone entirely, and she’d passed out right next to a Marine. What if they’d been confiscated? Oh gods, Zoro was going to kill her. She was going to get killed and disowned and-

“You’re awake!” someone yelled, disrupting her train of thought, and Kyla formed her heavily bandaged hands into armoured fists before she registered who had spoken. “Guys, she’s awake!” Cam called down the hall, and Kyla released her armament haki to better feel around for the presence of her swords. They were close, and approaching at a good clip. She exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and picked out the three individual flames of their presence.

“My swords.” she said as soon as the Square Knots were all in the room. “Who’s got my swords?”

“I do.” Moana said, and Kyla held her arms out.

“One second, lemme sit you up.” Cam said quickly, walking over to the side of the bed and grabbing a handle. She cranked it a few times, and the mattress folded to form something like one of Nami and Robin’s sunbathing chairs. Kyla still wasn’t quite upright, but when she held her arms out again she wasn’t reaching blindly towards the presence of her swords. The weapons were deposited carefully in her lap, and she pulled Hibiki from its saya to see how badly it needed cleaning. To her surprise, the blade shone like new. All three sayas were spotless as well, looking better than they had since, well, before the Straw Hats left her to guard the Sunny, that was for sure. No crust of sea salt or soot, no flecks of blood, even some of the little dings and scratches looked like they’d been buffed out.

“I cleaned them for you.” Amets said, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Cam. “They’re nice swords.”

“Of course they are, they’re mine.” Kyla grinned, sliding Hibiki back where it belonged and pulling out Sengo. There was a bit of gore stuck to the back of the blade, near the guard, and she prised it off with her thumbnail. “What happened to you guys?” she asked, glancing up at the young pirates gathered around her bed. Amets had bandages covering a good chunk of the left half of his face, Cam was covered in smaller adhesive bandages, Kalani had one arm in a cast almost up to her shoulder, and all of them were covered in bruises.

“Got shot.” Amets said with a wide, proud grin.

“Please.” Kalani rolled her eyes, and sat herself by Kyla’s left elbow. “Don’t tone it down.” she grinned, and gestured to the cast on her right arm and her very swollen black eye. “We’re _really_ good at being a distraction. They didn’t even notice you were gone for a solid minute after that jackhole shot Amets.”

“At least he had terrible aim.” Kyla grinned, sheathing Sengo and pulling out her first sword to examine. It was as spotless as Hibiki, but there was a small nick in the blade about two thirds of the way down. She’d definitely have to get better at holding her armament haki for long periods of time.

“Kalani’s an _excellent_ distraction.” Moana said, slinging one heavily bruised arm around his twin’s shoulders. “And she’s the one who had the idea to take him down with hockey sticks once the rest of them got called off to deal with a **‘** sword wielding demon **’**.” he made air quotes around the last three words, and the two pirates on Kyla’s right sniggered.

“I hear you took out a dozen guys.” Amets said, bouncing slightly. “Is that true?”

“Baker’s dozen, actually.” Kyla smirked. “How’d you get to the hockey sticks, though?”

“That was all me.” Cam grinned smugly, flipping her short pink hair. “After Metsy got shot and the rest of us had been beat up, I talked our guard into getting the first aid kit.”

“She said I was gonna die, then used a whole lot of words that sounded really bad and medical.” Amets said, still grinning wide. “It was pretty awesome, even if I didn’t understand a word of it.”

“Head wounds bleed a lot, and that guy was an idiot.” Cam rolled her eyes. “Once the rest of them got called away, though, I got the guard to bring me the AED under the pretense Metsy was having a seizure from his head wound.”

“That’s- not how an AED works.” Kyla frowned. “Or seizures, I think.”

“Well, this guy had never been to school, so he didn’t know that.” Cam’s smirk got somehow even more smug. “I made him hold Metsy down, then zapped his shoulders.”

“You stopped Amets’s heart in the process.” Moana pointed out.

“I restarted it a second later.” Cam waved a hand dismissively. “What matters is we’re all alive, and those stinky pirates are either dead or in prison.” she smiled, and patted Kyla’s leg. “And it’s mostly thanks to our very own sellsword.”

Kyla blushed, and felt a small proud smile spreading on her face. “It was nothing, really. I didn’t even do that well.”

“Do well on what?”

All five young pirates looked towards the door at that, and Kyla pulled her swords closer to her chest as the stupid fucking beeping betrayed how her heart sped up the second she realized it was a Marine who’d stepped into the room. It was the same one who’d been leading the troops she almost attacked, after taking out all those pirates. Normally she couldn’t tell Marines apart except by uniform and weapon, but this one had vivid blue hair that reminded her of Franky’s a bit.

“Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

Kyla opened her mouth to say yes, but Cam beat her to the punch. “No, ma’am, not at all.” the Square Knot medic smiled, a picture of innocence. “We were just talking about a recent math exam.”

“Well then, I’m sure you won’t mind if I ask miss Runa here a few questions.” she pulled a small notebook out of her coat pocket, and Cam elbowed Amets so he’d move off of the bed with her. The Marine sat down in a visitor’s chair, and the two displaced Square Knots hopped onto the room’s unoccupied other bed.

“What kind of questions?” Kyla asked, the beeping of her heart rate still just a bit too fast for her liking. The Marine wasn’t even armed, for fuck’s sake, and she had all three of her swords!

“About your, _encounter_ , with the Golden Raider Pirates.” the Marine pulled out a quill pen, one of the nice ones like Nami used to draw her maps. “Can you tell me where you got the swords?”

Kyla tightened her grip on the hilt of her first sword. “Gifts.” she said evenly. “From my sensei.”

“She like, never stops talking about him.” Kalani rolled her eyes. “Sensei this, sensei that, he’s like, her hero.” the navigator giggled, and grabbed Kyla’s hand. “She sleeps with them sometimes, since he never gave her a teddy bear.”

“Kalani!” Kyla swatted at the Square Knot’s navigator, making the paler girl laugh.

“Where have you been keeping them?” the Marine asked pointedly.

Kyla gripped her first sword tight again, and willed her cheeks to cool down. “Under my bed, in my dorm room.” she lied, and- oh, she would have to thank Kalani for this once the Marine was gone. Her heart, already racing from her best friend’s teasing lies, hadn’t sped up any further when she spoke. “The rules only say students can’t carry weapons on campus. There’s nothing about keeping them in your room.”

“I suppose there isn’t.” the Marine remarked, writing something down. “Your friends have already told me about how you escaped, but after securing your weapons why didn’t you return immediately to the gymnasium, as you’d planned?”

Kyla pursed her lips, trying to string together a lie with just enough truth they wouldn’t press any further. “I was swinging around to come in the front doors, cuz everything else is locked from the outside during classes, and I saw the vice-captain coming in. I thought he was the captain, since he had the coat on his shoulders, and I thought that maybe I could convince him to leave the school alone, since they’d already killed all the security guards.”

The Marine lady jotted down a few lines, then looked back up. “And how did you, a thirteen year old girl, manage to overwhelm four well-armed grown men when you failed to convince them to leave?”

“With tickles!” Moana proclaimed, and Kyla shrieked as he grabbed her foot and started tickling.

One good kick to the head got him to stop, and she lifted the neck of the hospital gown from her chest to check if she’d ripped her stitches. Nope, all white and dry. “I got lucky.” she said, the lie heavy on her tongue as she settled back against the mattress. “Sometimes, it seems like Sengo moves on his own.” she patted her second sword. That part was pretty close to true, at least. Her second sword was willful, she certainly hadn’t meant to cut the vice-captain’s throat but he’d done it anyways when given the chance. “It was all so fast, and when it stopped the vice captain was the only one left standing.” Kyla smiled a little, and ran her left hand down the familiar curve of her second sword’s saya. The beeping of her heartbeat was slow now, a normal speed.

“And the men in the principal's office?” the Marine gave her a skeptical look.

Kyla opened her mouth, then shut it again and made a confused face. “Principal’s office?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. This was a big gamble, but she had her friends here to back her up and the Marine had no reason to think she was lying.

“Yes.” the Marine frowned. “We found five corpses inside, all killed by those swords.” she inclined her head briefly towards Kyla’s lap, and Kyla put on her best shocked face.

“Corpses?” she squeaked. “I killed people?!” her heartbeat sped up, and she grabbed her first sword with both hands.

“You don’t remember?” the Marine asked, eyebrows rising towards her hairline.

“No!” Kyla shook her head, some singed hair smacking her in the face. “I-” she paused, and drew a quick breath that could probably pass as a gasp of surprise. “I was going to exchange their vice-captain for as many students as I could, and then-” she looked down at her heavily bandaged hands. “I woke up here.” her heart was racing with fear at the thought that the Marine might call her bluff, but that was probably the most convincing part of the charade.

“You don’t remember fighting them?” the Marine pressed. “You must recall something.”

“Not necessarily.” Cam piped up from her spot on the edge of the room’s other bed. “People who’ve been through a trauma can’t always remember it afterwards, and this wouldn’t be the first time she forgot something like that.” Cam paused and tapped her chin with one finger. “Well, not quite like this, but she went under a boat her first day here and the next day she acted like it had never happened.” the Square Knot medic shrugged. “Brains are weird, and hers is extra weird.”

“And I’m proud of it.” Kyla snapped back.

“Is that true?”

“Is what true?” Kyla tilted her head slightly, some hair falling across her face.

“That you have a history of amnesia linked to traumatic events.”

“I guess?” Kyla shrugged, playing dumb again. “I mean, I know going under a ship is super scary, my mom told me about a co-worker who fell off the front of a moving ship once and died, but I don’t remember going under.” she frowned, and tapped her chin with one finger. “I was sailing with Kalani in their ship, and then I was waking up and my shirt was all scratchy.” she shrugged.

The Marine sighed, and tucked her pen back away. “Well, from what I saw you’re quite a formidable fighter for your age.” she reached out and patted Kyla on the head, and Kyla bristled at the contact. “Not many trained teenagers can pull off armament haki strong enough to have colour like yours, and even fewer would be able to win under the circumstances you faced.” she smiled. “You don’t have to worry about replacing the ruined uniform, and if you stay as strong as you are now you won’t have any problems passing the physical exam in a few years.”

“Physical exam?” Kyla frowned. If that was some sort of graduation requirement, surely the Square Knots would’ve mentioned it by now. Not that she’d be around to graduate from this shithole, of course.

“To become a combat Marine.” the woman pocketed her notebook and quill pen. “Most of our recruits in the past couple of years have come directly from the schools here and on the eastern side of the island.”

Kyla fought the reflex to scowl, and only mostly won. “I won’t be here in a few years.”

“Right, your file says that you have a family.” the Marine nodded. “But keep in mind, there are Marine bases throughout the seven seas.” she stood, and Kyla gripped her swords tight. “I hope you recover quickly.” the Marine said with a bright smile.

Once the adult had left, Kyla slumped back against the mattress and sighed. “Eight seas.” she grumbled. Moana laughed, and clapped her on the shoulder.

“You still think All Blue is real?”

“I may be covered in bandages, but I can still punch your face in.” Kyla threatened, lifting a fist and coating it in pinkish armament haki under the bandages.

“Chill, Ky, he’s just being an idiot.” Kalani rolled her eyes and grabbed Kyla’s hand. “C’mon, tell us about those fights!”

“I lied for you, so you better give us all the gory details.” Cam grinned. “I saw one of the guys in the principal’s office was missing the top chunk of his body!”

Kyla grinned, and gripped the hilts of her first two swords to lift them in their sayas. The bullet wound in her right shoulder twinged, and she lowered her weapons. “I’ll show you later, once I’m back in action.”

“Show?” Amets and Kalani said in synch, eyes shining.

“I hope you’re not gonna demonstrate on Amets.” Moana echoed worriedly.

“I can take it.” Amets said, puffing out his chest.

“She _killed people_!” Cam snapped, wrinkling her nose.

“I’ll pull my punches, don’t worry.” Kyla laughed. “I don’t kill people who don’t deserve it.”

“ _Deserve_ it?” the Square Knots asked as one, eyes wide.

“Well, yeah.” she shifted a bit, sitting up a little more. “The men I killed were bad people, they were going to hurt you guys just because you’re students at a Marine school.” Kyla frowned, looking down at her swords. “I actually did try to talk them out of attacking, you know.”

Kalani rested a hand on her elbow, and Kyla gripped her first sword by its saya. “What did you say?” her best friend asked quietly.

“I told them my name.” Kyla tightened her grip on her first sword to keep her hands from shaking. “I told them Luffy was coming for me, and they laughed.” her fingers trembled, and she pressed them down against her blanketed lap. “I told the truth for the second time since I got dragged in here, and they called me a liar.”

The Square Knots made sympathetic noises, and Cam leaned in to give her a gentle hug. “It’s okay, Kyla.” she said quietly. “He’s definitely coming for you.”

Kyla giggled, and swallowed the sob that tried to crawl out of her throat. There was no reason for her to be crying now, surrounded by people she could confidently call friends. Sure she would leave them behind when her family came for her, but why did that thought hurt so much? It wasn’t like they were her nakama.


	41. Age 13: Education Part 22

“You got a haircut.”

Kyla ducked her head, and her scowl deepened. “Gee, you think?” she snapped, shooting Moana a glare.

“It’s cute.” Kalani added, and Kyla gave the navigator a weak smile.

“Thanks.”

“How come she gets a thank you and I nearly get my head bitten off?” Moana griped.

“Cuz I’m cuter than you.” Kalani said smugly, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “But seriously, your hair looks way better now everything’s evened out past the burnt bits.”

“Still wish it wasn’t straight.” Kyla huffed. “I miss my braids.”

“I’d kill for hair like yours, honestly.” Kalani sighed, pulling out her grammar workbook. “It takes me, like, half an hour to unsnarl my hair every morning. Cam’s only takes, like, five minutes.”

“Cam’s hair is shorter than mine.” Kyla said, rolling her eyes. “I’m surprised it takes a minute at all.”

“Still, your hair’s straighter than I am.” Kalani sighed, dragging a hand through her gorgeous hair.

Moana snorted, and Kyla looked between the twins for a moment before looking back at Kalani. “You mean my hair’s straighter than yours?”

Kalani gave her a blank look, then blushed adorably and looked down at her workbook. “Yeah, that.” she squeaked.

Kyla turned to Moana, and found her best friend’s twin writing something on a piece of paper. He folded it four times before handing it across the aisle to her, and she unfolded it to see a message in the short shipwright’s cramped handwriting. _I’ll explain at lunch_.

\---

The first half of the day had never seemed quite so long before, and Kyla wasn’t sure if it was because Kalani was barely looking at her or because she was waiting for Moana to hopefully explain his twin’s weird behaviour. They dropped behind Kalani and the other two Square Knots in the hallway, and Kyla shoved the note against Moana’s chest. “Explain.” she said, scowling slightly.

“Damn, where do I even start?” he huffed, crossing his wrists behind his head so his elbows were up in the air. “How much did your aunt and big sister teach you about, like, sex and stuff?”

“Uh, My doctor bro taught me anatomy and stuff, but we were gonna cover that when they got home.” Kyla shrugged. “What’s that gotta do with anything?”

“Kalani an’ me, well, we weren’t born like this.” Moana gestured vaguely to himself. “At first, we were identical. Doctor Nguyen couldn’t tell if we were boys or girls, and it didn’t really matter until we had to start going to school and stuff, so then we chose.”

“O-kay?” Kyla frowned. “You can do that? Like, choose if you’re a boy or a girl.”

“Or neither.” Moana shrugged. “But anyway, Kalani’s just been embarrassed because you didn’t get her joke.”

“It was a joke?” Kyla raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Straight is like, when girls like boys or boys like girls, and that’s it. Kalani likes girls and I like both, and sometimes we joke about it with Cam and Amets.” Moana shrugged. “Just tell her you get the joke and she should stop being weird.”

“Liking both is an option?” Kyla frowned. “That’s weird.”

Moana shrugged again, lowering his arms and clipping her with his lunch bag. “We’re pirates.”

“Eh, fair enough.” Kyla conceded, stepping into the cafeteria and splitting from Moana to buy her lunch. She’d never really thought about love before, beyond the fact that her family loved each other and that was what made them nakama instead of just crewmates. If liking both boys and girls was an option, then did that mean she could _choose_ to just like one or the other? And if she could choose, which one would she pick? It wasn’t like she’d had any sort of romantic experience. What even was romance? Nami had said something about kissing, but what else was there?

Kyla walked right into the person in front of her in the queue, and thank the gods she hadn’t ordered her lunch yet because it would’ve spilled all over his back and the floor. She muttered an apology under her breath, ordered her lunch, and spent most of the period tuning out the Square Knots’ chattering. Kalani seemed concerned, but Kyla waved away her questions with a quick “Just thinking about something.” and went back to quietly eating her meal.

Nami’s brief explanation of romance had been something like five years ago, but from what she could remember being in love involved wanting to kiss someone and spend your whole life with them and do “adult things” which her sister had claimed Sanji would be upset about her learning before she was a teenager. So there was romance love, which was kissing and grown-up stuff. There was nakama love, which meant you would protect them and not hurt them even if they were being really stupid or annoying. Nakama love and family love were pretty much identical, but with friend love you just wanted to spend time with them and have fun together, even if that fun came in the form of doing really dumb shit like lobbing dirt and rocks into a circle. Most of them could overlap, that she could tell, and of all of them, romance love was the only one where she’d ever thought, even vaguely, that it was limited to the opposite gender. Now that she was thinking about it more, that seemed kinda really stupid. All the other types of love could apply to girls and boys equally, so why should romantic love be any different?

“Ky? Ky~”

Kyla blinked a few times, and realized Kalani was waving a hand in front of her face. “What?” she asked, looking up over her shoulder at the cute navigator.

“Bell’s ringing in like, two minutes.” she gestured to the doors, where everyone was already queueing up to leave the cafeteria as soon as possible.

“Haha, wow.” she chuckled and stood, dumping the trash on her tray in the bin and leaving the tray on the stack. “Thanks for warning me.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Kalani said quickly.

Oh, right. Moana had told her all that shit because Kalani’s joke had flown about ten feet over her head. Kyla reached up to run a hand through her hair, and let it fall to her side when her fingers met air instead of thick curls. “Hey, uh, Moana explained your joke earlier.” she said kinda lamely.

“Oh, he did?” Kalani sounded mildly panicked, and Kyla gave her a reassuring grin as they started moving into the hall with the ring of the bell.

“Yeah.”

“So, you’re not, like, upset?” the paler girl ventured hesitantly.

Kyla frowned slightly. “Why would I be?”

“Well, most people think it’s weird...”

“Kalani, you know who my family is. You’re not weird at all, compared to them.” Kyla smirked at Kalani briefly, then her mouth curled into something softer for a moment before she kept speaking. “You’re my best friend, who you like to kiss doesn’t change that.” she looked back in front of her, and curled her arms over her head so her hands were behind her back and her elbows were the highest point of her stretch.

“Best friend?” Kalani said, and Kyla couldn’t discern the emotion in the taller girl’s tone exactly but it wasn’t good. Shit, had she overstepped her bounds with that? She’d been thinking it for a while now, but this was the first time she’d said it. She was just their sellsword, not even nakama. Kalani’s best friend was probably Cam, a girl she’d known for years. She probably thought of Runa Ky as nothing more than a temporary crewmate, extra muscle to back up her twin’s colourful threats. Then, without warning, Kalani’s face lit with a smile and she pulled Kyla’s right arm down to hook hers around it at the elbow. Her arms were soft, her skin smooth where it rested against Kyla’s near the top of her burn scar, and Kyla got the curious feeling of her skin being both too hot and goosebumpy from chill at the same time.

“Thanks, Ky.” the navigator said, her shoulder brushing against Kyla’s. “I haven’t actually had a best friend before.”

There was still something weird in Kalani’s tone, but Kyla disregarded that in favour of focusing on the pretty islander’s words. “What about Cam?” she asked, head tilting slightly sideways towards Kalani.

“Well, I can’t pick between her and Amets.” Kalani said, letting out a little huff at the end which somehow managed to convey “obviously” without her actually having to say the word. Kyla opened her mouth to ask something else, but it flitted from her mind as Kalani stepped closer to get around a small crowd of older boys. Well, the navigator wasn’t acting weird and nervous around her anymore, so she’d obviously said the right thing. Kyla smiled slightly as they walked back to the classroom arm-in-arm, and relished the moments when her friend- _best_ friend!- sidestepped and bumped against her.

Romantic love would probably take her a while to get her head around, but she already had her friends here and her family coming to find her. Romance honestly seemed kinda superfluous, when she’d never stayed anywhere more than a few weeks before getting kidnapped off of Ialst. Anyone she wanted to love romantically would have to be part of her nakama, which would be kinda weird because her nakama were her family, and waaay older than her. But until her family came for her, she’d at least have her friends to keep her company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Kyla, I really do, she’s my child and I want nothing but the best for her. I adore her, but sometimes I wanna smack her for being _so fucking stupid_. This chapter was mostly to set up for the next one, where we’ll be seeing some Kalani pov again and I’ll get to write another scene which I’ve been looking forward to since the start of the Education arc, though for rather different reasons than I was looking forward to Kyla’s fight with the Golden Raiders.


	42. Age 13: Education Part 23

“What’s a Winter Formal?” Kyla asked Kalani as their homeroom teacher gave up on getting the class to quiet down. “I mean, obviously it’s in winter, but what’s a formal?”

“It’s a dance!” Kalani beamed. “Everyone puts on dresses and suits, and the dance club always completely hogs the floor but that’s cool cuz there’s a whole load of free food.”

“Well, not _free_ free.” Moana added. “Tickets are, like, five thousand beri?”

“If it’s a dance, why is it over two nights?” Kyla looked back at the board, then returned her gaze to Kalani.

“Oh, the Friday dance is for seventh years and under.” the pretty navigator said eagerly. “It’s kinda lame since you’re there with little kids, and it ends at like ten. But since we’re eighth years, we get to go to the Saturday dance with the upperclassmen! That one goes until midnight.”

“So if it’s split like that, why’s the Saturday one on there twice?” Kyla asked, leaning an elbow on her desk.

“The second one’s special.” Kalani grinned, her eyes alight. “The tickets cost twice as much, and you _hafta_ buy them in advance because the dance isn’t in the gym. It’s _just_ for twelfth years and their dates, and it goes until, like, two in the morning. And the food isn’t cafeteria food!”

Kyla snorted. “Yeah, that’d be a hell of an improvement.”

“So, what’re you wearing?” Kalani asked, leaning slightly into the aisle with an eager smile on her face.

“I’m not going.” Kyla shrugged. “Don’t have anything to wear but my uniforms, and it sounds kinda boring.”

“Aww, c’mon Ky.” Moana wheedled. “I’m sure we can get you off campus to go dress shopping.”

“We can colour co-ordinate.” Kalani chirped, smile widening. “It’s super easy with Cam, cuz she only ever wears greyscale, and Amets only ever owns like three pieces of formalwear at a time so he’s easy to predict.”

Kyla chuckled nervously. “Um, I don’t think I have the cash to get myself a new dress. And anyway, this would make it hard to find something I can look good in next to you.” she gestured to where Hibiki’s flames had sunk into her face, leaving a large swath rough and shiny and pale like the burn scars which now covered her hands and the majority of her forearms. Absurdly, Kalani frowned at that.

“Don’t be stupid, Ky.” she huffed. “Get the right dress, and you’d be hotter than at least half the girls in this school.”

“Yeah, but what’s the bet that dress is gonna be in my budget?” Kyla frowned. “I don’t have my sister’s haggling skills, or that much cash to spend. Hell, I’m not sure I can cover a ticket!”

“The Nguyens could totally get you a ticket.” Moana interjected. “And Kalani and I know a great place to shop, the selection’s a bit iffy sometimes, but it’s cheap as hell.”

“I’m not going to the shitty dance, okay?” she snapped, giving Moana a glare before looking down at her workbook. Her burns looked bad enough already, still drawing stares even almost a month after she’d gotten them. If she tried to dress up they’d just stick out even more, like Robin. The archaeologist’s lightning scars were next to unremarkable in the day-to-day, but when she put on a nice dress the imperfections on her face and upper body seemed to leap out, becoming the first thing anyone noticed about her. It happened with Sanji’s too, but less, because he almost always wore suits.

There was something she hadn’t thought of yet. Had actively avoided thinking about in the hospital, and when she was getting her hair cut, and every night since as she tried to fall asleep. How would her mom react? He’d want to hurt whoever had done this to her, but it was her own fault, the price of igniting all three of her blades three times in under half an hour. He’d be angry at her for doing that, for using attacks which hurt her, but what choice had she had? And now, between the pencilled on eyebrows and straight shoulder length hair and massive burn scars, would he even recognize her? She’d grown a lot since being kidnaped off Ialst, so much that her old clothing no longer fit. Add in all the rest, and she looked like a completely different person.

“Hey, Ky?”

Kyla tilted her head slightly towards Kalani, but gave no other indication she was listening. For the life of her she couldn’t understand why a dance was something to get excited about. Why would anybody willingly let themself be stuffed into formalwear and spend an evening with complete strangers? If it was just nakama she would understand, gods knew her family threw enough spontaneous parties, but what made them fun was the fact that they were nakama. A room full of strangers wouldn’t have the same energy, not by a long shot.

“Ky?”

Kyla glared briefly at the Square Knots’ navigator, then went back to staring down her workbook. Homeroom would be ending in a few minutes, and she still hadn’t filled out the practice lines on sentence structure. It was stupid, this was all _stupid_. She set down her pencil, and tucked the fingers of her left hand under the mangled remains of Sengo’s ornament. The metal links had partially melted while she was using Yaki Oni Giri, and her flames had charred the cord down to its core. It still held a bit of Sengo’s presence, though, and since she couldn’t go train for another six and a half hours it would have to do.

She shut her eyes, and immediately could visualize the weak red light peeking out between her fingers. It was so tiny, a guttering ember on a match, but just as bright and just as red as its father. Her first sword was more grounding, and Hibiki was far more calming, but as she focused on the echo of Sengo’s fire Kyla let the sense of his strength wash over her. Irritation flickered through her mind, longing, sadness, but she let all thoughts slide by and focused wholly on the red light she imagined her first meito’s presence to be. Her breathing evened out automatically, and she felt herself begin to relax. Just a little bit, but a few more minutes of this would be enough to get her through morning classes.

“Ky.” Kalani hissed, and something hit Kyla in the head. The impact, slight though it was, was more than enough to jar her from her meditation.

“What?” she snapped, picking up the folded paper triangle and flicking it back at Kalani. It missed by about a foot, and she glared harder.

“I just wanted your opinion on whether I should wear my pink or purple dress this year, yeesh.”

“Why?” Kyla scowled.

“Because I wanna look cute, duh!” Kalani rolled her eyes. Kyla rolled hers right back. Could the navigator really not see she was already as cute as she could get?

“If you’re aiming for cute, may as well go in uniform.” she said dryly.

Kalani huffed something under her breath which sounded like “rude” but Kyla didn’t ask her to repeat herself. If the paler girl wanted to waste time gilding the lily, who was Kyla to stop her?

\---

“Hey, Ky.”

Kyla looked up, and only barely caught the stiff paper card the medic had flicked at her head.

“You can thank me by not turning up in uniform.” Cam smiled sweetly, holding up another four cards. Marine blue cards with white printing. Kyla looked down at the one in her hand, and frowned. The script was really curly, but ultimately legible. Winter Formal ‘38.

“No.” she flicked it back at Cam, and it fluttered to the ground after barely a foot.

“What?” Cam frowned. “I’m always the one who gets our tickets.”

“I don’t want to go.” Kyla scowled, crossing her arms as Cam started walking around handing out the rest of the cards. “You can return the ticket and give the money back to whoever paid for it.”

“What, are you a bad dancer or something?” Amets asked, tucking his card in his shorts pocket.

“No.” Kyla snapped, doing her best to keep her scowl from turning into a pout. “I’m probably a better dancer than any of you.”

“Really?” Kalani grinned her let’s-make-mischief grin, and tucked the card Cam gave her down the front of her shirt. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Will you.” Kyla said dryly, locking eyes with the navigator. Kalani had stopped being _weird_ weird after lunch the other day, but something about her still seemed a little off, like she was trying too hard. But it wasn’t Kyla’s place to pry, so she’d pretended not to notice. If she and Kalani were nakama it’d be different, but they were just best friends, and that fact shouldn’t have stung nearly as much as it kinda did.

“Yes.” Kalani said firmly, stepping in and grabbing one of Kyla’s hands. Cam and Moana stopped whispering and started humming an unfamiliar tune with an odd tempo, and Kalani counted out two measures halfway under her breath before launching into a fast-paced dance. The steps were as foreign as the tune, but the second time they repeated she had a good idea of what her feet were supposed to be doing. Kalani had taken the leading step, and at the end of the third round of whatever refrain the Square Knots were humming she was able to look up from her feet to smirk at Kalani.

“Told ya I was good.”

“You certainly did.” Kalani grinned, making Kyla’s heart jump in her chest. There was something entrancing about her best friend’s eyes, a brown not quite as pale as Nami’s but far paler than Kyla’s own near-black irises. They were so vibrant, a shade she’d never seen anywhere but on the Piripi twins, and despite Moana’s claim that they’d been born identical Kyla couldn’t help but think that Kalani’s eyes were a much better colour than those of her twin. They’d stopped dancing at some point, Kyla wasn’t sure when, but their hands were still clasped together and she could feel Kalani breathing in the small space between them. The navigator had barely blinked since they locked eyes, but her gaze didn’t feel intrusive or aggressive. It was weird, but a good weird.

“Do you know how to curtsy though?” Cam asked, and Kalani took a startled step backwards. Kyla let the taller girl’s fingers slide from between her own, but her hands felt curiously cold for the lack of contact.

“Uh, can’t say I do.” Kyla admitted. “What’s a curtsy?”

“It’s what girls do instead of bowing.” Amets said, clearly amused. “I thought you had a mom and aunt and big sister.”

“Well it’s not like pirates are particularly concerned with manners.” she shrugged, tucking her hands in her pockets. The brush of her plastic knife against her thumb and wrist was a bit reassuring, as was the way Sengo’s thoroughly mangled ornament pressed against her skin when it caught on the hem of her pocket.

“Fair enough.” Cam conceded. “But I’m gonna teach you anyways.”

Kyla rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop her mouth from curling up in a small smile. Maybe her family would arrive the day of the dance, and she could show these islanders how pirates were _supposed_ to dance at a party.

\---

Kalani stopped mid-step, and Moana’s foot came down solidly on her toes.

“Come on, Kalani.” he nudged her foot back a few inches, and she tore her eyes away from Ky to get her feet moving again. They were allowed to choose their own partners for the dance unit which came in gym just before the winter formal, and if they hadn’t been required to pair up in girl-boy pairs Kalani would be the one practically floating across the floor in Ky’s arms. How the swordswoman could make a simple waltz look so elegant she had no clue, but at least she wasn’t the only one who kept getting distracted.

Most of the boys in the class were getting dragged through the steps by their partners, and of the handful who weren’t a good chunk were just standing and watching in silent awe with their dance partners. Kalani was honestly a bit jealous. Ky was _hers_ , her nakama, her best friend, and even if the darker girl wasn’t interested in being anything more Kalani would defend the swordswoman from any would-be Marines who wanted to get close to such a beautiful graceful wonderful girl. The fact that said girl had so utterly stolen her heart was just one more reason to protect her friend.

Ky sniggered at something her partner said, and Kalani bristled. Okay, so maybe she was more than a little bit jealous, but could she really be blamed for that? Ky was fiercely loyal, probably strong enough to defeat every Marine in this building if she had even one of her swords, and she loved the sea even more than Moana did. Oh, and on top of that she was flat out gorgeous, from the high angular arches of her impeccably drawn eyebrows to her inky freckles to the dimples which punctuated her cheeks on the rare occasion she gave a full smile.

“I could partner with her tomorrow, if it’ll make you feel better.” Moana offered.

“Thanks.” Kalani smiled, gaze only shifting to her twin for a fraction of a second before she was looking at Ky again. The song ended, and Kalani smiled a bit when Ky immediately stepped away from her partner and glanced around the room. The swordswoman’s eyes settled on her, and remained there until the teacher demanded their attention again.

Maybe she didn’t have to worry about someone else stealing Ky’s heart after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe it was [Trell](http://archiveofourown.org/users/qunlat/pseuds/trell)’s story [permenance](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1703171) which first reminded me that most of the Straw Hats who were present on Skypiea (Robin Sanji Zoro and Usopp) should have lightning scars. In other news, I fear Zoro’s stupidity with emotions has rubbed off on Kyla. I love her to bits, she’s my child I can’t not, but good _god_ is this girl an idiot. True story, my middle school had a dance unit every year. We never had anyone as amazing as Kyla steal the show on normal dances, but one time there were a couple guys who did a quick Cossack Dance/Kazachok (or at least the really impressive part) in the last few minutes of class and everyone _lost their shit_.


	43. Age 13: Education Part 24

“I mean, I knew you could dance but _damn_!” Amets gushed, grinning widely as they walked into the woods.

Kyla shrugged, but allowed herself a small smirk. “What can I say? My aunt’s a great teacher.”

“Great teacher my ass.” Cam scoffed. “Grace like that can’t be taught, you gotta be born with it.”

“So how many other dances are you gonna sweep the floor with?” Moana challenged, his tone almost accusing.

Kyla thought for a moment, trying to recall if the teacher had listed any styles Robin didn’t teach her. “Probably all of them.” she shrugged. “Aunt Ro taught me a whole load of dances when I was a kid.”

“Ha!” Amets grinned, turning around to walk backwards in front of her. “Just ‘cause you learnt something as a kid doesn’t mean you’ll still be good at it now!”

“You underestimate how often my family has parties.” she grinned, recalling the last night everyone had been together on Ialst. They’d had a huge bonfire on the beach, and Zoro had even let her have a sip of his booze under the condition she not tell Sanji about it. It had tasted nasty, and he’d laughed at the face she made.

Kalani hooked an arm around hers, linking their elbows together, and the contact dragged Kyla from her memories just before they entered the branch fort. “So, what sort of things does the Pirate King’s crew throw parties for?” the navigator asked, not stepping away even as the rest of the small crew went to their preferred spots in the little clearing.

“Oh, basically anything.” Kyla shrugged. “Birthdays, battles, adventures...” she trailed off, a small smile flickering over her face. “We once had a party because it had been a solid week without anything interesting happening aside from mom and sensei bickering and it was the only suggestion Nami didn’t shoot down for killing everyone’s boredom.”

“Wow.” Moana grinned. “Being a real pirate is even cooler than I thought.”

“It’s the best thing in the world, yeah.” Kyla agreed, smile returning as Kalani leaned slightly against her. She would’ve extricated herself from the pretty navigator’s gentle hold, but the contact was better than taking a seat against the tree. After all, she’d been stuck sitting in one spot more or less all day so far. She did walk over to the tree which the tire swing hung from and lean against it, though. Kalani stayed at her side, and Kyla tilted her head slightly so her cheek pressed against the taller girl’s wavy brown hair. Being a pirate was the best thing in the world, and having a family made of your nakama was a close second, but maybe having a best friend like Kalani came in third.

\---

“Since you’re going to the dance, you’re gonna need a dress.” Kalani said without preamble.

“I still don’t wanna go.” Kyla grumbled, but it was halfhearted. Her best friend was certainly excited about this dumb dance, so she should be trying to be excited about it as well. It was no fun getting excited to somebody who didn’t care.

“But you have a ticket, so you’re going.” Cam said firmly. “I’d offer you one of my old dresses, but I don’t think any of them would fit.”

Kyla glanced at the young medic, her flat chest and narrow hips. “Yeah, I doubt it.” she shook her head. What she wouldn’t give to fit in the pink haired girl’s clothes, though. Kalani’s dad had patched her haramaki up as good as new after the incident with the Golden Raiders, but it had gotten decidedly difficult to get the garment over her hips in the past month. It would just be so much more _convenient_ to still look like a kid, rather than a budding young adult.

“Oh, damn.” Kalani frowned. “My shit wouldn’t fit either, then.”

Kyla’s eyes lingered slightly longer on her best friend's figure than they had on Cam’s, and in the end she had to tear her gaze away and focus on her lunch.

“I mean, dad could totally take it in for Ky, but then you wouldn’t be able to wear it anymore.” Moana pointed out.

“And somehow I don’t think Ky would want to wear any of your dresses.” Amets added. “Last time I checked, they’re all frilly and girly.”

“All dresses are girly, Metsy.” Cam huffed, rolling her eyes. “They’re _dresses_.”

“Hey!” Moana frowned. “Dresses are just clothes, we’ve been over this.”

“Amets has a point, though.” Kyla said, drawing the Square Knots’ attention again. “I don’t really like dresses, too restricting.”

“Restricting?” Moana asked, mouth pulling into a confused frown. “Have you never worn a sundress?”

“Irrelevant.” Kyla waved her fork. “I’m not wearing a dress, they’ve got no pockets for my knife and eyebrow pencil. I’ll just wear my school uniform, it’ll be fine.”

“What about a suit?” Amets suggested, and Moana’s face split with a wide grin but he didn’t quite light up the way his twin did.

“Perfect! I bet we could find one in Unique and get dad to tailor it for you.” the young shipwright said, the look on his face clearly saying he wouldn’t be talked out of this course of action. It was markedly similar to the look Luffy got when they spotted a new island. Kyla sighed, and took a bite of her meal. Well, at least Sanji would be happy if she got a suit. Nami and Usopp would probably tease her about trying to dress up like her mom instead of her sensei, but they never meant anything by it.

“A suit actually sounds pretty nice.” Kyla admitted. She’d have to take off her haramaki, but she did that every night so it wouldn’t really be that big of a deal, hopefully. Well, obviously Moana was going to make a big deal out of getting her one, but she’d gotten better with her armament haki since the Golden Raiders put her in the hospital so going one night without her usual armour wouldn’t be the death of her.

\---

The rest of the school day passed quickly, and Kyla grabbed a slip giving her permission to leave the school grounds between periods so when the final bell rang she walked right out the front gate with the Square Knots. Moana and Cam lead the way, and Kyla held her arm out for Kalani to hook an elbow around. Eventually, they stopped in front of a largely nondescript shop with large windows providing a view of some mannequins and the racks of clothes inside. The word Unique was stencilled on both panes of glass, and Kyla wasn’t quite surprised by the words beneath it.

“You really think we’ll find a suit in my size in a second-hand store?” she asked Moana skeptically.

“Definitely.” he said with a firm nod. “This place is, like, practically magic.” he pushed open the door, and the man behind the counter looked up as a bell jingled. “Hi Mr. Mas!”

“Hello, brats.” Mr. Mas smiled,inclining his head slightly towards them. “This the resident friend you were telling me about?”

“Yep.” Cam grinned, looping her elbow around Kyla’s other arm for a moment. “She needs a suit for the dance. What row would that be in?”

“Down by the dresses in the children’s aisle.” the man pointed, and all the Square Knots nodded as one. Kyla nodded a beat later, but it felt wrong being so visibly out of synch when her four friends had that special unison that only nakama had.

The aisles were formed by long racks of clothing, and Kyla ran a hand along the shirts as they walked past. There were all sorts and all sizes, the smallest being for infants and gradually growing larger as they headed towards the back of the shop. The other side of the aisle was skirts of a similar variety and arrangement, and on the other side of that rack she could see shorts and pants. Right at the back of the store the racks became taller, and Kalani ran forward to grab a dress which had been mis-hung on the bar of skirts. It was a pale thing, a blue so washed out it was nearly white, with ridiculously ruffled sleeves and a cut that she suspected would leave plenty of space to wear her haramaki underneath if she wanted.

“You’d look so good in this, Ky!” the paler girl gushed, practically skipping back and holding the hanger upside down to Kyla’s shoulders, proving that the dress would come down to her mid shins. “Way better than Ngaire did last year, and it’d totally leave space for your haramaki underneath.”

“But does it have pockets.” Kyla asked rhetorically. The dress obviously didn’t, though it felt like a good fabric and the cut of the sleeves didn’t look like it would impede the range of motion in her shoulders much, if at all.

“But you’d look like an absolute _angel_ in white.” the navigator wheedled.

“That’s not even white, you moron.” Cam huffed, rapping her knuckles on the side of Kalani’s head. “It’s pale blue.”

“Close enough.” Kalani huffed almost petulantly.

“I still want a suit.” Kyla said firmly, stepping around Kalani after the boys, who had stopped in front of a small selection hung across from the dresses. “What do you think, Amets?” she asked, grabbing one at random which looked like it was probably big enough for her. and holding it up to her shoulders.

“The pants are too short, and probably too narrow for your hips.” he answered after a moment. Kalani and Cam were giggling about dresses a few yards down, and Kyla hung her first grab back where it had been. The one next to it had a weird coat, but the pants were longer so she pulled it down and held it against her body.

“Much better.” Amets nodded.

“Why’s the shirt all ruffly like that?” Moana asked, poking at the ruffled bit.

Amets shrugged, and Kyla held it out to look at more critically. The back of the coat was significantly longer than the front, forming two long thin triangles with a dull floral pattern on the inside. The pants looked like they’d probably fit her, though they’d be rather loose at the waist, but the ruffled shirt did seem a bit pretentious. She’d have to get a tie to wear with it, after all. Mom didn’t always wear one, but he usually did, and this was supposed to be a formal event so that probably meant she should have a tie.

“I wonder if I could just swap this shirt with another one.” she mused, tugging at the neatly pressed collar.

“I mean, probably.” Moana shrugged. “Everything’s labelled individually, so as long as you put this shirt on the other hangar there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Oh, yeah, how much is all this?” Kyla lifted the coat sleeve, and her eyebrows raised at the price tag. Only eight hundred beri for such an obviously high quality coat? And the tag at the waist of the pants was only eight fifty! “These should be, like, _at least_ three times more than this!”

“It’s a secondhand shop.” Kalani grinned, coming back over with Cam. “Everything’s cheap as hell.”

“I can actually pay for an entire set of clothes with the cash I have on me.” she said dumbly. Why did Nami never shop at stores like these?

“So we just have to find you a nice shirt and we’re done here.” Cam grinned, crossing her arms over her stomach.

“And a tie.” Amets said before Kyla had the chance. “It’s a formal, she’ll need one.”

“Oh, right.” the medic blushed almost as pink as her hair, and Kalani giggled. “Come on, we can find one while Ky looks at shirts.”

Kyla walked back up the aisle, and stopped in front of a chunk of white button-downs in the 12-14 part of the rack. Fifteen minutes later they were walking out of the shop, Kyla’s new clothes folded neatly in a bag and her wallet only a few thousand beri lighter. Who knew buying new clothes for herself could feel so good?

\---

“Any other dances you know that you haven’t told us about?”

Kalani had just finished perching herself in the branches of the swing tree when Cam spoke, and her eyes immediately flicked from her friend to her crush. Ky was leaning against the trunk of the tree, twirling her plastic shank between her fingers and looking thoughtful. And dangerous and beautiful, but those were kinda givens at this point. The dance unit was nearly over, and with Moana as her partner from day two onward Ky had continuously blown the rest of the class out of the water.

“Well, yeah, a few.” Ky shrugged and pocketed her knife. “Most of them need an even number, though.”

“We could take turns sitting out.” Moana suggested from the tire swing, and Kalani didn’t need to see her twin’s face to know his expression was one of curiosity.

“That’d work, actually.” Ky grinned, and looked up directly at Kalani. “How about I teach the next best dancer here, then she can help me teach the rest?”

“Sure!” Kalani said quickly, hopping down and only barely clearing the tire swing. Dropping her book next to her bag at the base of the tree, she followed Ky to more or less the middle of the clearing and wiped her palms on her skirt.

“Brook told me this one is a really old pirate dance, and it’s meant to be done around a bonfire at a party, so there’s a lot of moving around. And there’s supposed to be a bit where you switch partners, but we’d need at least three pairs to do it right so I’ll just teach you guys the basic steps.” Ky said, making some sort of small motion with her left hand as she spoke. “So, uh, watch my feet I guess?” she concluded uncertainly, holding her hands up at about shoulder height and slightly less than shoulder width apart. A short moment of silence passed, and the swordswoman’s freckles all but disappeared in her blush on the right side of her face. On the left they’d been hidden by the burn, but Kalani had a feeling they’d only stand out all the more against that reddening skin. “You’re supposed to put your hands against mine.”

“Oh, right.” Kalani said dumbly, lifting her hands and pressing them against Ky’s like a long high-five.

“One two three four, one two three four, one two-”

Kalani joined Ky in counting under her breath, and did her best to focus on the swordswoman’s feet instead of how easy it would be to look up and close the distance between them and- no, dancing right now, she had to focus. This was far more complicated than the one she’d taught Ky a fortnight ago at the start of the dance unit, and the tempo kept climbing until she was almost worried about tripping over either her own feet or Ky’s. And wouldn’t that be awkward, if she fell and took her crush down with her. She’d just about die of shame, and Ky would laugh and tease her about not being as good a dancer as a proper pirate should be, and-

“You’re pretty good at this.” Ky’s voice cut through her thoughts, and Kalani’s head snapped up.

“Huh?”

“You’re a good dancer.” Ky said with a small, sweet smile. It wasn’t wide enough to bring out her dimples, but it was definitely enough to give Kalani butterflies and set her heart racing. “I had to stand on mom’s feet to learn this one, but you’re picking it up like it’s nothing.”

Kalani wasn’t sure what to say to that, but she ducked her head again and a wide smile split her face. Vinsmoke Kyla, nakama of the Pirate King and best dancer in their year if not the whole school, thought _she_ was good? At a traditional pirate dance? She couldn’t smile wider, but if it was possible she certainly smiled harder at that. “Well, you’re a good teacher.” she managed after a few more quick steps, and Ky’s blush returned with a vengeance.

They were almost back where they’d started, now moving significantly faster, and Kalani briefly considered tripping on purpose just to get Ky to fall on top of her. But no, she wasn’t a good enough actor to pull that off, especially in close quarters with her current crush. They came to a stop abruptly, and Kalani wondered just when she’d started breathing hard. Was it just from the dance, or did some of it have to do with the fact that the distance between her and Ky had somehow shrunk to the point where they were almost chest to chest? She could so easily lean in and kiss the darker girl right now, but what if Ky pushed her away? What if the swordswoman didn’t like girls that way? Worse, what if Ky did like girls that way but didn’t like _her_ that way? No, better not to risk it. Ky came to a stop, but Kalani took the next step and suddenly the warm calloused palms against her own were replaced with not-nearly-as-warm air.

“Hey, Kalani!” Moana called, fully jarring her from her thoughts. “You’re gonna teach me that, right?”

“I’ll sit out.” Cam said graciously. “Athletics aren’t really my thing.”

Kalani nodded, and swallowed down her disappointment as she and her twin pressed their hands together. His palms and fingers were rough with callouses and scabs and small scars, marks she knew as well as she knew the stars in the sky. She knew her twin better than she knew herself, and he knew her just as well, so when he gave her a teasing smile they needed no words to exchange their opinions. She glared back at him, and he mirrored the movement of her foot without looking.

“Just a crush, huh?”

“If the words “I told you so” come out of your mouth, I _will_ headbutt you.” she threatened, though they both knew it was an empty one.

“You should just tell her already.” Moana advised, looking down at his feet as Kyla’s counting began to get faster.

“Yeah.” Kalani sighed, glancing to where their sellsword was coaching their swordsman through the dance. Kalani only caught a snippet about it, but she was pretty sure the problem was something about posture rather than footing. “But not in front of everyone.”

“Okay, but if you don’t get it done before the end of the dance I’ll do it for you.”

Kalani nodded. That was a threat her twin would definitely go through with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyla’s distaste for dresses mirrors my own. Personally, I don’t like things without functional pockets because I’ve never gotten used to wearing/carrying a purse to hold my shit. Kyla, however, would much rather be ready for a fight at all times. She knows you can fight in a suit, Sanji does it all the time and Zoro did it during Dressrosa, but she’s never seen any of the melee brawlers of the crew kicking ass in a dress so for the moment she’s writing it off as impractical. (fingers crossed we get to see all the Straw Hats wearing kimonos in this upcoming arc. Zoro fighting in a kimono would be the absolute best.)
> 
> If you want a picture of what her suit looks like, google HxH Canary. It’s basically that, but with a different shirt and tie.


	44. Age 13: Education Part 25

Kyla twisted a small hair tie around the end of the braid, and took a deep breath before picking up the eyebrow pencil. It still made her heart race to draw her eyebrows on wrong, and the fact that the high peaked angular arches had become familiar made her something close to nauseous. When she was done, she capped the makeup pencil and tucked it in her right pocket, then gripped the edge of the sink. She was a swordsman, she should be stronger than this dammit! Why the hell did her own reflection make her so damn afraid?

She looked up, into the mirror, and forced herself to focus on her face as a whole rather than just in pieces. The first thing she noticed was, of course, the massive pale scar which covered most of the left half of her face, the price of holding a flaming sword in her mouth and not extinguishing the flames as soon as her enemy went down. Her eyebrows were angular, their shape intimately familiar but also intimately _wrong_ , and she followed the dark lines on her forehead up to the travesty which was her hair. Kalani had taught her a relatively simple braid which looked super fancy, but it didn’t change the fact that her hair was far too short and far too straight.

She swallowed hard, and looked back down at the sink, at her burnt-pale hands and her white-knuckle grip. She knew why she was so afraid, why she’d avoided watching her own reflection since the fight against the Golden Raider pirates, but the thought made her stomach turn and her lungs seize. She forced herself to look up again, and stared her reflection in the face. “My name is Vinsmoke Kyla.” she said firmly, and it sounded right coming out of her mouth but the words looked wrong on her reflection’s lips. She didn’t look like herself anymore, didn’t look a bit like the little girl who’d been left to guard and maintain the Sunny, and that was the heart of the problem.

She was taller now, she had hips and boobs and _scars_ , straight hair and eyebrows which didn’t look a whit like they were supposed to. If Sanji saw her out with Kalani and the Square Knots, he probably wouldn’t even realize who she was. Vinsmoke Kyla was slowly vanishing, being replaced by Runa Ky, and the Straw Hats had no reason to want Runa Ky on their ship. Runa Ky was a sellsword, a ward of the Marines, a member of the Square Knot pirates even if they weren’t her nakama. Kyla shut her eyes, willed back the welling tears, and leaned forward until her forehead pressed against the glass of the mirror.

“My name is Vinsmoke Kyla.” she repeated, voice sounding much steadier than she felt. “My mother is Black Leg Sanji, my captain is Straw Hat Luffy.” she drew a shuddering breath and opened her eyes, lifting them to stare herself down. “I’m a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and they’re coming to find me.” she spoke with as much conviction as she could muster, focusing on the shadowed reflection of her own eyes. She had to believe herself, or there would be nothing to stop her from slipping into her own lie.

Kyla exhaled heavily, and straightened up. Her tie was still unknotted, hanging loosely around her neck, and she kept her eyes focused on the seastone blue fabric as she twisted it into a basic knot like Moana had showed her. Her coat was laying across the foot of her bed, and when she shrugged it on the fabric hugged her shoulders perfectly without restricting her range of motion at all. Mr. Piripi really was a miracle worker, and as she buttoned it up she was glad of spending half an hour standing stiffly while he measured and poked pins and all that. If Sanji was here he’d call her adorable, but he was her mom, he had to say things like that. Hopefully the Square Knots would be able to provide a slightly less biased opinion.

She patted her breast pocket for the ticket, left pants pocket for her knife, and found both in place. Well, with nothing left to do, it looked to be time to go to a party.

\---

Kalani fidgeted with the flower she’d picked out for Ky, forcing herself to keep her hands still so as not to damage it. Their sellsword hadn’t arrived yet, and she was trying to decide how best to confess. The flower had been a last-minute thing, something she pulled from a bush Moana pointed out as they were walking to the school, but if her memory was serving her correctly it actually did have a meaning. Beauty and perfection, both words she would readily apply to Ky, though the swordswoman likely had no clue that flowers even had specific meanings. She was a pirate, after all, a proper one with a bounty and everything.

The door opened, and Kalani’s eyes widened as Ky finally walked in. The suit which had hung so awkwardly on her a few weeks ago now clung to her like an elegant second skin, the tails swishing with each stride. Ky in a suit held only a passing resemblance to the Runa Ky she knew in class and at the fort, the girl who kept her short hair in a messy ponytail without fail and radiated an air of something like disdain almost constantly. Ky in a suit looked, well, _powerful_. The jacket was such a deep black it outmatched even her gracefully braided hair, the crisp white collar below stood out starkly against her dark throat, and she carried herself with all the confidence which would be expected of a member of the Pirate King’s crew. In that instant, there was no doubt in Kalani’s mind that the girl who had just walked through the gymnasium doors was Vinsmoke Kyla.

“Holy hell.” Kalani mumbled under her breath, swallowing hard as her crush spotted her and grinned. She was so very gay for this girl.

“What, did I mess up my tie?” Kyla asked, looking down and frowning.

“Oh, no, not at all.” Kalani said quickly. “Just-” she paused, then forged on before she could chicken out. “You look so beautiful.”

Kyla blushed, subtle on her right cheek but unmistakable on her left, and her lips curled in a small smile. “Thanks. You too.”

Kalani’s voice nearly deserted her for a squeak, but she managed to keep from embarrassing herself. “I brought you this.” she said hurriedly, holding out the pink hibiscus flower.

“Oh, so we match.” Kyla grinned, dimples appearing ever so faintly on her cheeks, and Kalani had never been so glad of her makeup. Her face was on fire, but there was no way Kyla would see that under her carefully applied foundation and blush. The swordswoman gently lifted the hibiscus flower from Kalani’s hand, and deftly tucked it into the waterfall braid which ringed her head like a crown. It settled perfectly against her black hair, not quite over her left temple but not far enough back to be over her ear, and Kalani realized that apart from the same eyebrows she always drew on Kyla was wearing no makeup. Every inch of her beauty was natural, and that made the butterflies in Kalani’s stomach flutter even harder.

“I should’ve brought you something seastone coloured.” Kyla chuckled, the familiar hehihihi pulling Kalani from her lovestruck daze.

“It’s alright.” she said quickly. “I mean, I just picked it on the way over, and there aren’t really many flowers that colour blue so-”

“You picked it one the way over?” Kyla interrupted. Kalani nodded, and the swordswoman’s smile brightened. “Thank you!”

Kalani’s heart leapt in her chest, and she vaguely wondered how the whole room couldn’t hear it pounding against the inside of her ribs. “You look beautiful.” she said quietly, and at Kyla’s amused smile realized she’d already said that. “I mean, you’re really working that suit.” she chuckled nervously. “Better than any of the guys here at any rate, and most of the girls too!”

“I hope I’m not included in that.” Cam said, coming up behind them and making Kalani startle slightly.

“Well, your dress is only almost as pretty as Kalani’s so I’d guess we look about even.” Kyla laughed.

Kalani’s brain just about short-circuited. Kyla thought she was prettier than Cam, but labelled herself and their medic as equals, which meant that the swordswoman thought Kalani was prettier than her? That was it, tonight was the night she died, and Cam would write Kyla’s name in the cause of death slot because Kalani definitely couldn’t take many more of these casual compliments.

“Excuse you, I’m at least as pretty as Kalani if not more.” Cam huffed, and Kalani was startled back to reality when Kyla’s hand slipped into her own, leading her back into the party towards the table where food was laid out over low warming flames.

“You’re wearing a grey sundress and silver jewellery.” Kyla said flatly.

“I like greyscale things, fight me.” Cam looked over her shoulder and her eyes flicked up and down Kalani’s outfit for the second time that night. “Kalani’s in pink floral, I thought you hated both those things.”

“Yeah, on _my_ clothes.” Kyla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Kalani looks good, and her dress is cuter than yours just by virtue of being a halter top, so there.”

Kalani blushed harder, and a smile wavered on her mouth for a moment before her tension burst into giggles. “Thanks, Kyla.” she reached out and grabbed the swordswoman’s hand, taking some encouragement from the way Kyla blushed at the contact, half her face darkening and the other half burning almost as pink as the flower in her hair. “C’mon, let’s get some soda and meet the rest of the crew over there.”

Kyla followed her to the far end of the refreshments table, where individual cups of cola and lemon-lime soda were set out, and immediately snatched up a lemon-lime for herself. Kyla picked a cola, but halfway back to where the Square Knots had congregated she stopped in her tracks. Kalani turned around and opened her mouth to ask if something was wrong, then stopped when she saw the look Kyla had fixed on her. Absolute wonder, tempered with a small measure of confusion. “What’s wrong, Ky-” she stopped herself just before using Kyla’s real name, and the darker girl’s look changed to pure wonder.

“You used my full name.”

“Sorry.” Kalani gave a sheepish grin. “I know I’m not supposed to around Marines, it just kinda slipped out.”

“You’ve always called me Ky before, even at the main fort.” Kyla frowned. “What made you slip up?”

Once again, Kalani was thankful for her makeup. “Well, at the forts, Ky is kinda my nickname for you.” she admitted. “But in that suit, well…” she bit her lip for a moment, but decided against telling Kyla the truth of what was on her mind. “You look dangerous.” she said instead, smiling weakly. “Like you could kill us all in a heartbeat if someone just gave you a sword and a good enough reason.” she freed her hand from Kyla’s and placed it over the spot her crush always grabbed for when flustered. The spot where three swords were supposed to hang, to complete the picture. “You look more like a pirate than ever.”

“I- really?” Kyla asked, sounding completely disbelieving.

Kalani nodded, and very nearly leaned forward to steal a kiss from her stunned crush but now wasn't the time, not when they were both holding sodas and the rest of the crew was waiting for them. So instead she just placed her hand back in Kyla’s and gave the freckled girl a gentle tug towards the small knot of her nakama. She had until midnight to confess, that was just under five hours. She'd come up with something in that time, surely, and if all else failed she could just kiss Kyla senseless and hope for the best.


	45. Age 13: Education Part 26

Kyla hadn't expected the party to be this much fun. She and Kalani had already gone for a few spins on the dance floor, and the navigator’s inexplicable shyness from earlier had faded after the first hour or so. Well, she’d noticed after the first hour or so, when Kalani took advantage of her heeled shoes to rest her chin atop Moana’s head and get them all laughing at their shortest friend’s indignant misfortune. She'd spent most of the rest of the time either telling stories about parties her family had thrown or making fun of the cafeteria food being supplied for them to eat. And then, a few hours in, she'd stopped mid-sentence as the dj transitioned to a new song. A song she knew as well as the dance that went with it. It was all she could do not to burst out laughing, but she did choke on and almost spill her cola.

“You okay?” Moana asked as Kalani patted her on the back.

“I know this song.” Kyla grinned, setting her drink down on the little table they'd clustered around. “It's one of Brook’s.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then Amets snorted and suddenly they were all laughing. “Do you think they know?” Cam gasped when the song was halfway over.

“No clue.” Kyla giggled back, a wide smile splitting her face. Honestly she wasn't sure what was funnier, the Marines not knowing they were playing pirate music at their party or the Marines knowing and not caring.

She kept an ear out after that, but it took an hour and a half for another Soul King song to come on. And this one went well with the dance she'd taught the Square Knots, or at least half taught, they didn't really have enough members to do the switching partners bit. “Hey, Kalani.” she grabbed the navigator’s hand and tugged her gently towards the dance floor. “Let's sweep the floor with those dance club nerds, pirate style.”

Kalani took a moment to process what she meant, but quickly set down her drink and followed Kyla out to the middle of the dance floor. “Can you start fast, or should we build into it?”

“Build in.” Kalani smiled, sharp and dangerous as any pirate Kyla had ever known. “It'll give the plebs time to clear out of our way.”

Kyla grinned, and pressed her hands palm to palm with Kalani’s. “One two three _four_.” she stepped forward on four, and Kalani fell into step with her easily. It only took a line and a half for the other dancers to clear out of their small circle of motion, and just one verse for them to reach the speed of the song. With the music thrumming in her bones and Kalani beaming at her in a familiar dance, Kyla could almost forget that this was a Marine party. Kalani spun through the motions of the dance as if she was born for it, dress flapping around her knees as they beat an age-old pirate rhythm into the floor of the Marine gymnasium. With dozens if not hundreds of islanders looking on and clapping out the beat of the tune.

Kalani laughed, and Kyla's face hurt a little from smiling so wide but she laughed too. Scars didn't matter in a dance, nor did identity or allegiance. All that mattered was the beat of the music and the motion of your partner, and Kalani was the best partner she could've hoped to find in a place like this. Their feet moved in perfect synchronization, arms now pressed together from fingertip to elbow, and it was like the world had narrowed to Brook's song and Kalani’s smile.

The last refrain played, and Kalani stopped with her instead of stepping away like she'd done in the branch fort. They stood like that for a moment in an unusual lull between songs, Kalani’s smooth forearms pressed against Kyla's scarred ones and their faces so close Kyla could smell the soda on the navigator’s heavy breaths. They stepped apart slightly, lowered their hands from shoulder height to chest height without breaking palm contact, and then the next song started. Not one of Brook's, and not one she knew either.

“Come with me.” Kalani said, sliding her fingers to turn their palm press into a gentle grip on one of Kyla's hands. The dance floor was already filling back in, but they were able to easily slip between their schoolmates and out one of the doors which lead to the athletic fields. The sky was disappointingly lacking in stars, light from town blocking out the smaller ones that filled the space between constellations, but the only clouds in the sky were thin wisps drifting fast across the dark expanse. It was a nice night, cool enough she wasn’t overheating in her dress shirt and suit jacket but warm enough Kalani wasn’t shivering in her halter top dress. There were a couple of other kids loitering around the doors, but Kalani strode past them along the wall until the music leaking out of the gym faded into background noise like the innumerable insects.

Kalani stopped, and gave Kyla’s hand a squeeze. Kyla looked down from the stars, and tilted her head slightly sideways at the look on Kalani’s face. She’d seen her best friend being weird and being shy, but never seen the paler girl look uncertain before. It was a bit unnerving. “You okay?” Kyla asked, stepping closer and grabbing the curvy navigator’s other hand so all their fingers were twined.

“There’s, well, something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” Kalani said slowly, gaze fixed on Kyla’s feet. “For a while now, actually.”

Kyla’s eyebrows lifted, then furrowed in confusion. That was absolutely cryptic, and not worrying at all. She almost said it, but shut her mouth at the last second. Sarcasm wouldn’t help the situation, not if Kalani was worried about something. And why else would the ever-confident girl be so unsure of herself? It was probably the same thing that had been making her all shy earlier. “Whatever it is, I won’t be mad.” Kyla offered lamely.

“Promise?” Kalani’s voice was small, hopeful, and when she looked up from the ground without lifting her head Kyla’s heartbeat picked up slightly.

“On my life.” she said firmly, giving Kalani’s hands a reassuring squeeze.

The paler girl’s face split in a grin at that, and she pulled their hands from chest level down to hip level. “Close your eyes?” she asked, her tone light and almost teasing. There was the confident young pirate Kyla had come to admire. She shut her eyes, and a smile flickered briefly across her face.

“Are you telling me you got me a gift?” she prodded, trying to keep her tone as gentle and near-flirtatious as Kalani’s had been a minute ago.

“I guess you could say that.” Kalani giggled, and Kyla felt the air warm ever so slightly as Kalani stepped right up to her. Maybe it was a necklace? Hiding it in a dress like Kalani’s wouldn’t be too hard. Nami did it all the time with money and stuff, and the Square Knots’ navigator was built almost like a miniature version of the Straw Hats’ navigator. But if Kalani had a gift, then why were both their hands still locked together?

Something warm and soft and slightly tacky pressed against her lips, and Kyla’s heart leapt in her chest as she took a step back. Her eyes flew open, hands pulling free of Kalani’s, and her whole face felt like it just might combust any second now. She tried to take another step back, but her shoulders hit the wall. “I-” her throat was closing up, restricting her breathing, and Kalani looked crushed. She’d fucked up, hadn’t she? Months on end of thinking her best friend was beautiful, and it took probably breaking her heart to figure it out? Stupid, _stupid_ idiot swordsman.

“Oh.” the young navigator looked down at her feet again, clasping now-empty hands in front of herself, and Kyla’s heart stuttered painfully in her chest. “Sorry, I thought-”

“No!” she blurted, taking a large step forward and grabbing Kalani’s hands again. “I’m- I-” words crowded in her throat, choking her, and it took all her willpower to get “I mean, yes!” out of her mouth instead of some half baked confession, the words spilling out so fast it was a small miracle they came out in the right order. She gripped Kalani’s hands tighter, and her chest only shook a little as she took a steadying breath. “Me too.” she said somewhat lamely, holding the navigator’s gaze.

“Really?” Kalani beamed, a smile almost as bright as Luffy’s splitting her face. “So, can I-”

“Yes.” Kyla said quickly, tugging Kalani fully into her personal space. Her heart was racing so hard in her chest she was sure the taller pirate would be able to feel it, and as Kalani leaned in to press another chaste kiss to her lips Kyla felt she might combust. Kalani’s lips lingered on hers awkwardly for a second, then the navigator opened her mouth slightly and Kyla mimicked the motion. Kalani stepped in closer, the smooth fabric of her dress rubbing against Kyla’s shirt and jacket, and when they pulled apart to breathe Kyla had to gasp for air like she did after fighting Zoro.

Her whole body tingled with something not quite adrenaline, and when Kalani leaned in again she could barely stop smiling long enough to kiss back. It felt like bubbles in her chest, rising up from the pit of her stomach to sit high in her lungs and pack tight around her heart. A giggle escaped her, and when Kalani pulled back the look of amazement on her face only made Kyla smile harder.

“You’re so beautiful.” the paler girl whispered, and Kyla was sure the whole right half of her face went as dark as her freckles. The left half was almost definitely brilliant red, too.

“Don’t say it like that, or I might think you really mean it.” she said quietly, something hot and close to painful igniting in her chest, burning away the bright bubbly feeling in a heartbeat.

“I do mean it, Kyla.” Kalani insisted, and pressed a quick kiss to Kyla’s lips. “And everyone should know it, too.” she released Kyla’s hands and moved instead to grip at the swordsman’s shoulders, one hand sliding down to rest across the small of her back. “You’re the prettiest, strongest, most incredible girl in this whole school.” Kyla let herself be pulled in for another kiss, and awkwardly rested her hands on Kalani’s hips. She couldn’t breathe, and her heart was beating too fast, and her hands were shaking a little, but this time she wasn’t scared. Kalani pulled away, and Kyla gasped for air before the taller girl pressed her against the brick of the school building and kissed her even harder.

Her hands slid almost unconsciously, shifting to pull Kalani closer with her right across the back of the navigator’s ribs and her left trailing up Kalani’s spine over the smooth fabric of the dress. Her fingers met bare skin, decidedly warm, and Kyla didn’t think before lifting her hand another few inches to tangle in Kalani’s loose curls. The world seemed to fade, her surroundings reduced to suggestions of shape and colour as she focused wholly on Kalani, no music to split her attention with this time. The navigator pulled away to gasp for breath, and Kyla couldn't help the little sound that slipped out when they crashed back into each other, teeth knocking together with the sheer force of their kiss.

It was like a battle high, like leaping from the crow's nest, like being pulled under by a riptide, and she didn't want to come up for air. It would be so easy to surrender to this, to pull Kalani’s soft shapely body flush against her own muscled frame and drown in the navigator’s kisses. It would be so easy to give in, and she **wanted** to, but even with her coherent thoughts swimming in a haze of _bliss_ and _more_ and _yes_ she was aware of the knife in her pocket and if they kept going she'd lose that awareness like she'd already lost her awareness of their surroundings.

“I love you.” Kalani gasped between light kisses, lips moving across the bottom of Kyla's scar. “I love you so fucking much, Kyla.” Kalani pressed a kiss to Kyla's ear, and it was like lightning speared through her body when the navigator’s teeth scraped the shell of cartilage a moment later. Kalani’s tongue quickly followed, and Kyla whimpered as her whole body tensed. It should feel weird, having someone’s mouth on her ear, but with Kalani it felt so _good_ she could hardly stand it.

She couldn't breathe, could hardly think beyond the overwhelming _want_ as Kalani continued mouthing at her ear, but somehow she managed to get the navigator’s name out between gasping breaths and needy sounds that she couldn't stop from slipping out of her throat. Kalani paused and made a curious sound, a sort of hum which tingled down her spine and lit a fire low in her gut. The warm breath on her damp ear wasn't helping her get her voice back, but she managed to unclench her fists from Kalani’s hair and dress and push the Square Knot navigator away with enough force to knock the taller girl on her ass.

Kalani’s mouth opened and closed, obviously searching for words and finding none, and Kyla gripped at her suit jacket over her racing heart. “Sorry.” she gasped after a long moment of awkward silence. “I just-” she shook her head, and lifted a hand to push the flower back in place before it could slip fully loose. What could she say? She wanted to keep going, but was scared of getting attacked? Kalani would laugh at her for that, it made no sense.

“It's okay.” Kalani grinned, getting to her feet and dusting off her dress. “Do I have a grass stain on my butt?” she turned around, and Kyla shook her head.

“You’re good.”

Kalani turned back, and closed the distance between them to grab Kyla's hands firmly. “Next time, just tell me to stop and I will, okay?” she smiled, and the sheer amount of adoration in her gaze was more than Kyla could recall ever having been directed at her except from Sanji. “I love you, Kyla. I don't want to do something if you're not into it.”

Kyla blushed and looked down. If she said she'd been _too_ into it, Kalani wouldn't understand. It was such a stupid thing, she didn't even know why she'd done it. And if she didn't know, how could she explain it to Kalani?

“Hey, wanna go back inside?” the navigator asked, her expression still so adoring Kyla couldn't look her in the eye for more than a few seconds.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded, twining her fingers with Kalani’s and trying to ignore how her heart ached when the paler girl beamed like it was both Solstices and her birthday all rolled into one. At least she knew why that hurt the way it did. She couldn't be Kalani’s girlfriend after she left with her family. They were both pirates, and Kalani was surely smart enough to know forever wasn't a promise either of them could make, but if they were nakama then they would have as much of forever as two pirates reasonably could. She couldn't leave her family, but she couldn't ask for Kalani’s loyalty when they would never see each other again after the Straw Hats found her.

Moana gave them a smug look when they rejoined the Square Knots’ conversation, and as the islanders chattered about the choice of music and other kids’ clothes Kyla thought back on the past few months. When was the first time she’d thought of Kalani in passing as beautiful? When had the paler girl’s casual contact started evoking physical reactions? How the hell had she fallen in love without knowing it?

“Hey, Ky?” Kalani laid a hand on her bicep, and Kyla almost startled.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going home before everyone rushes the door.” Kalani smiled, sliding her hand down Kyla’s arm to twine their fingers together. “You could walk with us to the gate?”

It was impossible not to hear the hope in her tone, and Kyla nodded. “Yeah, that’s- I-” she felt her cheeks heat with a blush and looked down. “Okay.”

Kalani stayed leaning ever so slightly against her as they left the gym, but as soon as they were in the empty halls Kyla felt a warm arm slide around the back of her waist. Kalani’s hand settled on her hip, and she wondered if the rest of her best friend’s- girlfriend’s?- nakama could hear her pounding heartbeat. The walk to the gate was far too short, and when Kalani’s arm lifted from her back Kyla grabbed the navigator’s hand. She opened her mouth, but no words came. What was she supposed to say in a situation like this?

Kalani leaned in, and any thoughts of stringing together a coherent sentence fled Kyla’s mind. The kiss was short, but when Kalani pulled away Kyla’s heart was racing like she’d just finished a mastery test. “Goodnight.” Kalani grinned, stepping back and sliding her hand free of Kyla’s. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday.” Moana pointed out, and Kyla’s face burned with blush as she realized the rest of her friends had just seen that. Cam and Amets looked a bit stunned, but Kalani’s twin didn’t seem surprised in the least.

“So?” Kalani turned to face the other Square Knots, clasping her hands behind her back. “I’m gonna come keep my girlfriend company tomorrow, and none of you are invited.”

Kyla ducked her head, and lifted a hand to make sure the flower didn’t fall out of her hair. Girlfriend. She had a girlfriend now. A smile spread across her face as the Square Knots left, and remained until she was almost back to the room she shared with Lani. She set the hibiscus flower on her nightstand, unbraided her hair, and wiped off her eyebrows before changing into her pyjamas. Lying down, she glanced at the flower and her smile came back with a vengeance. Kalani was her _girlfriend_.

Oh gods, Sanji was going to _flip_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m actually really happy with how this chapter came out. And with this we close the curtains on Education. Kyla is happy, more or less, and safe for the time being. Next week, it’s back to the adult Straw Hats!


	46. Age 13: Reunion Part 1

“I wonder if Kyla’s taught herself any new santoryu techniques.” Zoro mused as they walked along the beach. It was the first thing he’d said since they disembarked the Yonta Maria and started rounding the northern side of the island to surprise their youngest nakama.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Sanji scolded automatically. “Kyla definitely developed at least a few moves of her own in the last year.”

Zoro smirked, and Sanji made a mental note to prepare some onigiri for the swordsman’s shift on watch. “I’ll have to make sure she uses them in a mastery test, then. Give her a chance to show off.”

Sanji smiled, and tucked his hands in his pockets. This was a good day. They were back on Ialst, returning to the ship they all called home and their youngest nakama who’d remained behind to guard it. He still wished it had been safe enough for her to come with him or Zoro, but between the swordsman’s title and his family name the stakes had been far too high to risk putting a child in the line of fire. Even a child as skilled and graceful as Kyla. “Tomorrow, of course.” he let his mouth pull into something closer to a smirk. “Luffy’s going to want a party tonight.”

“Damn straight!” Luffy called back from the front, and Zoro chuckled.

It was one of those perfect moments, the sort which could stretch on forever without garnering any complaint. Luffy flanked by Nami and Franky in front of him, Robin and Brook behind, Usopp and Chopper bringing up the rear with a sledge of food to start on making dinner while they sailed back around to the Yonta Maria to get the rest of their supplies. And of course, Zoro at his side, his presence reassuring and comforting and _right_. The only thing, the only _person_ missing was Kyla, but they were headed home and she’d be with them soon enough.

They rounded into view of the Sunny’s sheltered cove, and if Sanji had been smoking he certainly would have dropped his cigarette. He’d expected Nami’s mikan trees to be overgrown, none but their navigator were allowed to touch the plants and Kyla was fully aware of that, but the ship as a whole looked derelict, abandoned. Franky made a distressed sound, and took off towards the Sunny. Sanji was only a heartbeat behind, but they reached the ship at the same time. The ladder hung limply from one strand, the other snapped where it hung over the railing, and Sanji ignored it in favour of leaping straight onto the deck.

“Kyla?!” he called, looking around. The grass was overgrown, scattered with weeds, and dead leaves from the tree littered the deck. It looked like nobody had been here for months, but that made no sense. Kyla would never abandon their home, not when Luffy had told her it was her job to protect it. But the extended lack of response was worrying, and he barely noticed the sound of Franky putting together a new ladder. If Kyla wasn’t here, then where was she? Brook’s skeletal hand landed on his shoulder, and he startled at the contact.

“I’ll search the aquarium bar.” Brook said quietly. Sanji nodded, and started towards the kitchen. If that was still in good condition, or at least looked like it had been used recently, then Kyla was somewhere on the island and they’d have to search for her before setting sail. Luffy would be too busy searching with them to be upset about dinner being delayed, hopefully.

The doorknob resisted being turned, but when Sanji managed to push the door open it gave an ungodly squeak. Okay, so Kyla hadn’t been oiling the hinges. She wasn’t a shipwright, and it was unlikely anybody but Franky could reliably find anything in the cyborg’s mess of a workshop anyway, let alone a fairly small oilcan. Or at least, that’s what he told himself until he saw the state of his kitchen. The floor was covered in dust, save a small arc where the door had just swung. There were dishes laying out next to the sink, utensils too, and he guessed that the last time Kyla was in here she’d been washing up after breakfast.

The hinges of the refrigerator weren’t nearly as bad as the door to the deck, but they still creaked when he opened it. The fridge wasn’t even empty, and after the reflexive flash of disappointment at seeing food gone bad Sanji felt a chill run down his spine. This wasn’t just some mikans and hunted game. Most of what they’d left for her was still there, which was just more confirmation that whatever happened to her had happened months ago. He didn’t want to think about what might’ve happened to her, the myriad horrible possibilities which he could’ve prevented by insisting she stay with one of them, so he shut the fridge and moved to the pantry on autopilot. The handle only stuck a little bit, but the hinges groaned and he almost winced. It was so unnatural, to hear the Sunny in such disrepair.

A glance told him all he needed to know of the pantry, though he’d certainly be doing a full inventory later, and another set of hinges protested from his right. Chopper trotted out of the infirmary, and at the grim look on the little doctor’s face Sanji’s stomach did an uncomfortable flip. “Did you find anything?” he asked, shutting the pantry door.

Chopper shook his head. “Everyone’s searching the ship, we’re meeting on deck to share what we found.”

Sanji swallowed, trying to moisten his suddenly dry mouth, and nodded once. Kyla was missing, and it took all his strength not to fall into wondering what had happened. If she’d been made to abandon ship with any amount of warning she would’ve left a note, surely.

\---

Sanji gritted his teeth, and ran over the information they knew in his head. Kyla had left dishes drying on the counter and laundry waiting to be washed, but there was no mess in the girls’ room to indicate her having packed in a hurry, nor any treasure missing from the hold. One of her wooden swords was missing, but the chalkboard where she kept track of her workouts had been updated regularly until it stopped a bit over a month after her birthday. And then, the final and most damning piece of the puzzle, the last entry in the logbook. She’d seen a ship sail by to the south, and her untidy handwriting declared an intent to go check for wreckage the following day. The last date on the chalkboard in the crow’s nest.

For the first time in years, Sanji wished he had a cigarette. If it had been bounty hunters, or worse, _Marines_ , then gods only knew what had happened to her! She was thirteen now, and he had no doubt that the Marines would have no problem consigning a child of her age to Impel Down. If she was in that hell...

“Franky, how long will it take to get the Sunny ready to sail again?” Nami said, clutching the logbook to her chest.

“I can have her fuelled up in a jiff, but it’ll be at least an hour’s work to fix all the rigging.”

“Get it done.” she handed the logbook off the Robin without looking. “Sanji, Zoro, you’re coming with me.”

“What for?” Zoro asked, eye narrowing.

“There might be some sort of sign as to who took her.” Nami said simply, and were the situation not so serious Sanji would’ve swooned a bit over how lovely and confident their navigator was when she was giving orders.

“Wonderful idea, Nami.” he grinned, and before the minute was out they were on the shore again and Franky was putting the rest of the crew to work helping get their home back in a condition to be proud of.

It felt like ages before they came to Ialst’s other sheltered cove, the one all but enclosed by high cliffs, but when they did Nami was the first to gasp. A second later, Sanji saw what she had, and his heart just about skipped a beat. One of Kyla’s wooden swords was sunk point first into the gravel just above the high tide line, very nearly perpendicular to the ground. Kyla had been here. She’d fought, and lost, and by now she could be anywhere. She could be in Impel Down, alone and defenseless and surrounded by the type of people who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt a little girl.

“Cook? _Sanji_.”

Sanji gasped, but his lungs weren’t working. Shit, goddamnit, not in front of Nami. She didn’t need to see this. Zoro said something, but the words were indistinct under the pounding in his ears.

“Sanji?” Zoro’s voice was closer now, more distinct, strong hands firm on his shoulders. Tight enough to ground him, but not quite tight enough to bruise. “Sanji, listen to me. Focus on my voice. You got that?”

Sanji nodded shakily. He’d promised to protect her. He couldn’t fail, not again. If he broke that promise a second time, he-

“She’s okay.” Zoro said firmly, jolting Sanji out of his thoughts. “Kyla is okay.”

Sanji looked up- when had he fallen down?- and found Zoro kneeling in front of him with an intense expression.

“Kyla is okay.” the swordsman repeated, hands sliding slowly down Sanji’s shaking arms. “She’s strong, and she’s smart. That’s why we trusted her to look after Sunny, remember?”

Sanji nodded, and managed a slightly deeper breath. “‘Course she’s strong. She’s our nakama.” he said, inhaling quickly between sentences. Kyla was strong, that was sure, but the Vinsmokes were stronger. Hell, even your standard boatload of Marines would be a stretch for her with their sheer numbers. Kyla was incredible but she was still only a child and he’d _promised_.

“Sanji, look at me.” Zoro gave him a shake, forcing his attention back to the present. “Kyla promised to be safe, right?”

Sanji nodded again, and took another breath. He had to keep breathing, had to keep living. He couldn’t keep his promises if he was dead.

“Kyla _keeps_ her promises.” Zoro’s tone was even and sure, and if Sanji gripped the swordsman’s forearms to steady himself then that was nobody’s business but his. “She may not be here, but wherever she is, she’s safe and waiting for us. She’s waiting for _you_.”

Sanji managed a full breath, and held it for a second before exhaling. He glanced behind Zoro, and breathed a bit easier at the sight of Nami halfway across the cove, digging Kyla’s wooden sword out of the gravel beach.

“You okay?” Zoro asked, one calloused palm resting lightly against Sanji’s cheek.

“I will be.” Sanji pulled up a tense grin, and lifted his hand to rest over Zoro’s. If they were alone he might’ve leaned in for a kiss, but Nami didn’t need to see that. He’d have to make her something extra nice tonight as an apology.

“I’ve got her wood sword.” their lovely navigator said a minute later, footsteps crunching closer on the gravel. “Are you okay, Sanji?”

“Of course, Nami my dear.” Sanji put on a wide grin and spun to his feet, avoiding knocking Zoro in the face. He still felt like his ribs were trying to crush the air from his lungs, but none of the wonderful ladies in his life needed to worry themselves with his problems.

“Let me see it.” Zoro said, rising gracefully to his feet. Nami handed over the wooden practice weapon- little more than a toy, really- and Sanji’s stomach churned as myriad terrible possibilities swirled through his head.

“Sanji, look at this.” Zoro said, putting an arm around his shoulders and holding the blunt wooden sword in front of him. “Not so much as a nick in the blade.”

“She’s gotten better with her armament haki, of course her sword’s undamaged.” Sanji frowned.

“The cliff’s in one piece too.” Zoro smiled reassuringly. “Whoever took Kyla _wasn’t trying to hurt her_.”

“What does the cliff have to do with anything?” Nami frowned, looking at the weathered stone. The time-worn, distinctly unmarked, weathered stone. Sanji’s breath caught in his throat, and the leaden anxiety lightened just a bit. Kyla fought with everything she had, no matter if she was alone or had her entire nakama on her side. If the people who took her had been Marines or bounty hunters or enemy pirates, the beach and cliff would show marks of a fierce battle. 

“Kyla only uses her swords on enemies.” Zoro said slowly, tightening his arm around Sanji’s shoulders minutely. “If the ship she saw was full of civilians, people who didn’t mean her any harm...”

“She would only have used her wooden sword.” Sanji finished, a painful little spark igniting in his chest.

“And she’s not as stupid as either of you, so if they didn’t know who she was when they took her then there’s no way they would’ve found out!” Nami grinned, obviously elated. Sanji smiled back, and turned to press his face against Zoro’s shoulder.

“Wherever she is, Kyla is safe.” the swordsman said quietly, rubbing Sanji’s upper arm. “She keeps her promises.”

“And wherever she is, we’ll find her.” Nami said confidently. “She’s probably just on the next island, wondering what’s taking us all so long.”

Sanji chuckled at the image that popped into his head. Kyla with her hair pulled back in a large puff behind her head, waving from the edge of a pier. He couldn’t help worrying, of course, but it would be an insult to Kyla’s strength if he assumed she needed saving.

“How can you tell she’s on the next island?” Zoro asked, and Sanji slipped out of his gentle hold. “For all we know they could’ve been heading backwards.”

“Because Kyla saw them come in south of the Sunny.” Nami said, her lovely brown eyes alight. “If they were coming from one of the next islands, they would’ve passed on the Sunny’s north side before circling the island to here.”

That, made perfect sense. “As brilliant as ever, Nami.” Sanji beamed, most of the leaden weight lifting from his body. All they had to do was wait for the pose to set, then Nami would be able to guide them to where they needed to be. Kyla was certainly waiting on one of the next islands, keeping her head down and staying safe until they could come find her. Their wonderful navigator smiled at the praise and turned to resume walking towards the Yonta Maria, already calculating their new course under her breath.

Zoro offered him Kyla’s wooden sword, and Sanji took it. The training toy was heavier than it looked, thanks to its core of the same ridiculously dense metal as Zoro’s weights, and he held it close to his chest.

“She’s fine.” Zoro said, resting a hand over Sanji’s where he was supporting the hilt of Kyla’s wooden sword. “She has her swords.”

Sanji nodded, and forced himself to take a full, deep breath. He kinda wished he had a smoke right now, but instead of grabbing and fiddling with his lighter he shifted Kyla’s sword to his left arm and twined his right hand with Zoro’s left. Their youngest nakama was waiting on them, alone on another island. Nothing had changed from yesterday except now they were all on Sunny and had to figure out which island they were picking her up from. So long as he kept thinking of it like that and didn’t consider how very many ways Kyla could be overpowered, he would be able to smile freely when they found her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I caved, there is now background zosan. I’m not going to tag it, though, because it’s not a focus and that wouldn’t be fair to people searching the zosan tag. It took me a few tries to get Sanji to feel worried enough, honestly. He kept reading as, like, big-brother worried instead of parent worried. I’m pleased with how it came out in the end, though. As for the promise he mentions not being able to keep, well... I have my own theories about how he came to be on the Orbit.


	47. Age 14: Reunion Part 2

Kyla turned slightly as she swung, shifting her stance to face whoever was approaching. It was probably one of the Square Knots, but she couldn’t for the life of her think of why any of them would be here so early. They’d planned to have her party in the early evening, and it wasn’t like there was any setup to do which would require one of her friends to arrive multiple hours beforehand. After a few more seconds Kalani appeared, hair pulled back in a ponytail and pretty pink dress flapping around her knees. It wasn’t the one she’d worn at the dance, just a sundress with pale yellow dots clustered around the hems and waist, but the navigator was beautiful in it all the same.

“Are you being chased?” Kyla asked, making a mental note of how many swings she’d taken as she lowered her swords.

Kalani shook her head and slumped forward, bracing her hands on her knees. “You’ll- never guess.” the paler girl gasped, moving one hand to press at her side.

“You’re right, I won’t.” Kyla slid her swords back into their sayas, and crossed her arms. “So tell me.”

“Never guess- who I saw- sailing round the south end.” Kalani straightened up with a wide grin, but kept a hand pressed to her side.

“Did your brother finish making that new ship?” she ventured. Moana was being pretty secretive about his latest project, and all any of them knew was that he was working near the south end of the island. Well, that and the fact that it was probably a ship big enough to hold five people without sinking.

“Better.” Kalani’s chest heaved, and her eyes gleamed with unfettered joy. “The Pirate King’s flagship!”

Kyla’s heart leapt in her chest, and she clasped her hands over her mouth to muffle the shriek which escaped her. They’d come for her. They’d actually come for her! She reached out, grabbed Kalani by the wrist, and dragged her girlfriend in for a brief teeth-knocking kiss. “One minute.” she said when she pulled away, holding up a finger for a second before spinning to pick up her uniform shirt from where she’d hung it halfway inside the tree. Shimmying her haramaki down to sit around her legs wasn’t as easy as it had been before she started training in this clearing, but soon enough she’d tucked her shirt into her shorts and was pulling the warm fabric back up to cover her stomach. Hibiki was still propped up against the tree, and she slid it into the empty loop on her haramaki.

“Let’s go.” she grabbed Kalani’s hand, and started in the direction her girlfriend had come from.

“You don’t wanna bring anything else?” the young navigator easily kept pace with her, and Kyla let Kalani take the lead.

“Everything I own is on the Sunny.” she ducked a leaning tree and they burst out onto the well-manicured lawn of the school. The gate was right there, and when the lady who was supposed to check their IDs stepped out to make sure both of them were allowed to leave Kyla pulled her first sword from her haramaki, saya and all, to clock her over the head.

Kalani made a sharp left, then another, then a right, and Kyla followed the lovely islander through the woods rather than through the town. Her girlfriend was flagging though, obviously still winded from earlier, and Kyla veered right to bring them back onto the streets. The buildings started looking familiar after a few blocks, and Kyla turned down a slanted road which led straight to the main pier. The street was lined with carts and stalls for the Saturday market, and as Kalani staggered along behind her an arm flashed out and grabbed a chunk of Kyla’s hair.

“You’re that troublemaker, aren’t you?” he snarled, and Kyla drew her first sword with her right hand. The blade severed her hair neatly, and she took off running again. People were yelling now, hands reaching for her, but a bit of aimless slashing with her oldest blade dissuaded them from actually grabbing her. It had been months since her last headlong escape attempt, but evidently these islanders had a long memory for things like that.

Then Kalani’s hand was ripped from hers, and Kyla skidded to a stop as she turned around. A big burly guy in a butcher’s apron had one hand wrapped firmly around her girlfriend’s bicep, and Kalani was screeching for him to let go. Kyla saw red, and gripped her trusty katana in both hands.

“Let her go right now!” she yelled, the cobbled street around them clearing quickly. “I’m the one you want!”

“Damn straight.” a deep voice said from behind her, and two massive hands fastened around her wrists. Her fingers were prised apart, and she thrashed as her first sword fell from her grip.

“Let go of me, you creep!” she yelled as loud as she could, hoping against all odds that somebody would step in. But the people here knew her only as Runa Ky, the delinquent orphan who ran around with self-proclaimed pirates, and this time she’d threatened somebody with a sword.

“We’ll bring ‘em both to the school.” the man holding her said, and Kyla grunted as she was thrown over his shoulder. “Miss Piripi here should be disciplined too.”

“Aiding and abetting.” the butcher agreed, and Kyla began to pound her fists on the back of the man holding her.

“Let me go!” she yelled, squirming and trying to make him drop her. “Let me _go_!” it was futile, he was strong enough to heft and carry her like a sack of flour, as if she weighed nothing, but still she struggled. “That’s mine!” she tried to lunge as the third butcher picked up her dropped sword, but without leverage she was helpless.

“Don’t worry.” the man holding her laughed and pinned her legs to his chest so she couldn’t kick him in the nuts. “Tomàs won’t lose it.”

“It’s _mine_ give it _back_!” she yelled, trying to strike the back of the man’s neck. He only laughed again, and Kyla looked around the street, searching for a sympathetic face. And then her heart fairly stopped in her chest, and she started screaming even louder than before.

\---

“Help! Lemme go!”

Sanji paused, and turned towards the sound. If there was a lady being assaulted, he obviously had to help.

“Let go!” she screamed again, and he started down the crowded street. People stepped out of his way, and before he’d gotten half a block he was able to see the source of the trouble. Two burly men, likely brothers, had grabbed a pair of dark young ladies and were dragging them away. There was a third man holding a sword, and Sanji scowled. Threatening defenseless women was something only true scum would do.

“Heeelp!” the darker one shouted again, and lifted her head enough to meet his eyes. Hers were dark, dark brown, wide and frightened and pleading, barely changed from the day he’d first seen them staring out from between two crates in Sunny’s hold. Flames sprang up around Sanji’s feet, and he launched himself at the three men. They went flying one after another through a cheese stand into the building behind it, and he caught Kyla easily. She wound up over his shoulder, but the way she relaxed and murmured “Mom.” was enough to let him know she didn’t mind.

Before he could set her down, though, the second girl was coming at him with the third man’s sword. He blocked it easily, and mentally corrected himself. Kyla’s sword. This child was trying to attack him with Kyla’s sword, her first one, the one she’d taken from a Marine way back when.

“Kalani.” Kyla twisted, and Sanji let her roll out of his grasp to land on her feet. “It’s okay.” she grinned, bright as ever, and Sanji realized why he hadn’t recognized her immediately. In addition to having obviously hit puberty the skin on her forearms and half her face was pale, her too-short hair was entirely the wrong texture, and she’d somehow changed the shape of her eyebrows to look like _Zoro’s_ , of all things. If not for the haramaki and three swords, he might have doubted this was even his daughter.

“But-” the other girl, Kalani, let Kyla take back her sword without fuss, and it rang as she slid it back into its sheath. “He’s not from here. How do you know he’s not a bounty hunter?”

Kyla giggled, and something in Sanji’s chest warmed. She’d made a friend, and a good one at that.

“Kalani, this is Sanji.” she grabbed him by the elbow. “Sanji, Kalani.”

The paler girl blushed, and her eyes widened in unmistakable fear. Aaand that was the one downside to being part of Luffy’s crew, the terrible reputation.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Black Leg sir.” Kalani bowed, and her ponytail flipped over to hang in front of her face.

“It’s alright, Kalani.” he smiled, and reached out to tilt her chin up. “Thank you, for trying to protect Kyla.”

She straightened, and Kyla leaned into his side ever so slightly. “Didn’t I tell you he’s the best?”

\---

Kyla gripped Sanji’s elbow with both hands, and leaned against him. Her cheeks were starting to hurt with the force of a smile she couldn’t suppress, but she didn’t even care. With him here, she felt a year’s worth of tension melting into nothing. Mom wouldn’t let anybody take her away, not when he’d just found her again. Or at least, she hoped that was how he felt. There was always the slim possibility that they’d just been passing by and she had distracted him from doing something else.

Her train of thought was interrupted when her legs were knocked out from under her, and Kyla made a rather undignified sound as Sanji lifted her up princess style. “Mom!” she yelped, grabbing his shoulders for support, and he chuckled.

“We’re going home, Eggplant.” his hand tightened ever so slightly on her arm, and she relaxed against him as he started walking.

“Later, Kalani.” Kyla lifted a hand to blow a kiss at her girlfriend, then settled back against Sanji’s chest as they continued towards the docks. Three blocks later, though, the novelty of being carried around had worn off. “Mom, I can walk on my own.” she pointed out, kicking her legs a little.

Sanji slowed, then turned down a street which ran parallel to the docks and was far less crowded. “From Ialst, there are three islands that the log pose points to.” he said quietly. “In between those three islands are seven others, all with towns on them. We only had a few hours to search for you on each of those islands, in addition to restocking and refueling the Sunny.”

“I’m sorry.” Kyla rested her head on Sanji’s shoulder. “I should’ve fought harder to keep those guys from taking me.”

“No.” Sanji shook his head. “We shouldn’t have left you alone.” he shifted his grip on her, and Kyla chuckled as she settled against his chest. Her arms were free enough to wrap around his neck, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. She’d rather be walking, running, heading home on her own two feet, but there were worse things than being carried around like she was a little kid again.


	48. Age 14: Reunion Part 3

“Look who I found!” Sanji called.

Kyla lifted her head from his shoulder, and twisted to look up at the Sunny. It looked just as she remembered it, if not better. The whole ship practically shone, and Luffy and Nami were already hanging over the railing with huge smiles on their faces. Sanji set her gently down to climb the ladder, and when she reached the top she’d no sooner set foot on the grass than she was pulled into a hug. Nami grabbed her first, pulling her close, and Kyla was a bit startled to find her forehead actually pressing against the redheaded navigator’s shoulder.

Chopper was too excited to wait for her to be released, and jumped up to latch onto her torso. Usopp Luffy and Franky seemed to take this as a go-ahead, and Kyla laughed as she was surrounded by three more strong sets of arms, Franky’s making a comforting whirring sound and Luffy stretching to hug all of them. The embrace lasted long enough for the muscles in her shoulders to relax, and she slumped slightly against Nami as the rest of the crew pulled away. Her big sister had yet to loosen her hold either, keeping one arm across the back of Kyla’s shoulders and her other hand cupped against the back of the young swordsman’s head.

After another few long seconds, Kyla pulled away from Nami with a small smile. “I’m home.”

“And it’s about time, too.” Nami laughed, pulling her in for another brief, tight hug. “We’ve been worried sick about you!” she held Kyla out at arm’s length, and looked her up and down. “What are you _wearing_?”

Kyla looked down at her feet, and briefly cursed the pale burn for showing the heat in her face. “Nothing.” she said quietly, shoulders tensing. “Just needed a change of clothes that wouldn’t stick out.”

“I suppose a Marine school uniform would make you fairly anonymous on an island with a Marine funded school.” Robin mused, smiling slightly.

“What happened to your _hair_?” Usopp asked, tugging on a lock of it gently.

Kyla ducked her head at that, shoulders hunching as her left hand automatically went to her swords. “It’s- I-” she took a deep breath, held it for a second, then exhaled heavily and lifted her head. “One of my teachers thought my hair was too distracting for the other students, so she took me out every other month to get it chemically straightened.” she got the words out on a single breath, and took a measured inhale afterwards. Her hands weren’t visibly shaking, which she was endlessly thankful for, but her stomach had still tied itself in uncomfortable knots and her eyes prickled with tears.

Nami made a distressed sound, and pulled Kyla in for another hug. “Oh, poor baby.” she murmured, and Kyla relaxed again as Luffy laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Which teacher?” her captain asked, face lacking any trace of his usual smile.

“It’s alright.” she said quickly. “I blend in better with my hair like this.” she grinned, aiming for placating, but Luffy’s expression didn’t lighten.

“No, it’s not alright.” Luffy gripped her shoulders, firm enough to keep her in place but not hard enough to bruise. “They kidnapped you and messed up your hair and eyebrows.”

“Luffy.” Zoro said almost warningly, brushing the captain’s hands away and putting an arm around Kyla’s shoulders instead. “If Kyla says it’s okay, then it’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Usopp chimed in. “She’s home, she’s fine, there’s no need to go blow the place up.”

“Please don’t.” Kyla said quickly, looking around at the members of her nakama who were still gathered around her. “They were just doing their jobs, and there’s kids there who actually don’t have a family coming to get them.”

Luffy’s expression softened, but he still didn’t smile.

“How about we go shopping.” Nami said brightly, resting a hand on Kyla’s head. “You’ve definitely outgrown everything you’ve got on the Sunny, and I bet we can find some clothes for you that are way cuter than this outfit.”

“That’d be nice.” Kyla smiled up at the redhead, and Luffy chuckled.

“Alright. Kyla’s home.” he grinned, and patted her head when Nami removed her hand. “Stick with Nami, okay? She won’t let any nasty Marines take you away again. And when you get back, Sanji'll make a feast!”

“I'll be shopping for groceries while you're out with Nami.” Sanji said, brushing a few stray hairs behind her ear. “If you need my help, I'll be right there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit short, but I’m pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. Nobody is mentioning Kyla’s burn scars because, well, at the moment they’re just happy to have her back.
> 
> Also, if you like Sanji, check out the [32 Days of Sanji](http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/32daysofsanji) event on tumblr! I've got three fics up for it so far, and more in the works ;3


	49. Age 14: Reunion Part 4

“Miss Runa, what a surprise seeing you here.”

Nami barely registered the voice, or the man gesturing from across the store, until Kyla grabbed her arm and ducked behind her. That was, well, unusual was the first word that came to mind.

“I’m surprised nobody’s after you yet.” the man said conversationally, and Nami rested a hand on her ClimaTact. This guy was wearing a Marine blue shirt with the Marine symbol on it in white, and his eyes were fixed on Kyla. A teacher from the local school? Whatever he was he obviously knew Kyla, so why was he calling her by the wrong name?

“I got a weekend pass.” Kyla said, but it was as unbelievable as any of Luffy’s lies.

“Sorry about her, ma’am.” the man smiled apologetically, and moved to reach past Nami for Kyla’s arm. “I thought we’d broken her of the habit of making escape attempts, but-”

Nami drew her weapon and cracked it across the man’s wrist, shifting so Kyla was completely hidden from his view. “Don’t touch her.” she said firmly, glaring as the islander and readying a burst of sub-zero air in case he tried again.

“Ma’am, I assure you, whatever this brat has told you is a lie.” the man said, switching tactics. “She’s a resident student who runs with a local crew of self-proclaimed pirates and refuses to face the truth.”

“What truth?” Kyla snapped, leaning sideways to glare at the man. “Your stupid bullshit history book is nothing but Marine propaganda!”

Nami smirked and rested her free hand on Kyla’s head. Robin would be hearing about this later. The archaeologist would get a kick out of it for sure.

“The truth about your family.” the man huffed, and Nami’s blood ran cold as he turned a faux-sympathetic smile on her. “She was abandoned on Ialst, I’m afraid. Refuses to believe that her family is either dead or never returning for her.”

Kyla had ducked back behind her, and Nami lifted her ClimaTact to point at the man’s chest. He held up his hands and took a step back, and she released the ball of frigid air into his ribcage. “Come on, Kyla.” she said, lowering her weapon and putting an arm around Kyla’s shoulders. “I’m sure we can find a shop with clothes more your style.”

Kyla nodded hesitantly, and Nami waited until they’d walked three blocks to bring up a question the man had raised. “So, Runa?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Runa Ky.” Kyla said after a quiet moment. “I didn’t want to give them my real name when they put me in the system, so everyone here thinks my name is Ky.” she paused, and a smile flickered across her face which Nami had never seen before on her young nakama. “Well, almost everyone.”

“The local pirates?” Nami guessed, and Kyla nodded, the smile returning to her face and staying for a few long seconds. Now that Nami got a better look, that was definitely a lovesick smile. So, Kyla was smitten with one of the Square Knots? Well, she certainly was getting old enough to start dating, and it was better for her to learn how to say goodbye now than in five years’ time.

\---

Kyla hummed happily, and tucked her hands in her pants pockets. Yabus was a bit warm to be wearing full length near-to-black pants, but the brush of loose fabric against her calves was almost as comforting as the quiet click of her swords’ sayas as she walked. The dark pants and pale shirt felt right, and without a shoulder kerchief thing she felt much lighter. Nami had sighed despairingly when she walked out of the dressing room and added several vibrant tank tops and capris to Kyla’s new wardrobe, but she’d haggled the price down to only thirty percent of the initial receipt so Kyla supposed it evened out?

“Hey, that looks like a good salon.” Nami said, and Kyla followed her big sister’s gaze to a store with ‘Biyōshi-Tokoya No Mi’ in curling script across the top of the storefront. “Let’s see if we can’t get your hair braided, hmm?” Nami grinned, and Kyla followed her into the building. It smelled a lot nicer than the one Ms. Blanxart took her to, and there were a lot fewer chairs, but her eyes caught on the two women chatting behind the small counter which held the cash register. Their hair was so vibrantly coloured, pinned and curled into elaborate updos and streaked with every colour of the rainbow. It should’ve been an eyesore, yet on them it looked as natural as anything.

“Oh, customers?” one of them asked, eyebrows raising.

“Yes, I’d like a trim and my nakama here needs her hair braided.” Nami answered smoothly, laying a hand on Kyla’s shoulder.

“Of course!” the darker of the two women beamed, gesturing for Kyla to come sit in one of the chairs. She went, and the cloak thing the stylist draped around her shoulders was identical to the one in her usual salon except in colour. “I’m guessing you want all those nasty chemicals out first, right?” she asked, and Kyla’s eyes widened.

“How-”

“Can I tell?” the woman smiled and ran a hand from Kyla’s forehead back over her scalp. “With the Biyō-Biyō No Mi, I can always tell what’s going one with a person’s hair.” she said with a wink, and clicked her fingers. “Cleanse.” her nails turned a bright white, almost like they were glowing but not quite, and when she grabbed a wide tooth comb the not-light transferred to that. The plastic teeth sat against her forehead, and Kyla watched her reflection as the hair tie holding her ponytail was pulled free and the comb dragged back along the top of her head.

Every inch of her scalp which came into contact with the not-light emanating from the comb tingled, and she gasped as it was lifted from her head. Her hair, stripped of its curl and volume for almost the past year, was back to normal. Or at least, all of it which grew from the tingling bit of her scalp. By the time she got a hand free of the stylist cloak, most of the left side of her head had been restored. Her fingers sank into thick curls, and it was a struggle to keep her breath from catching in her throat.

“It’ll only be another moment to finish cleaning your hair, dear.” the stylist said, running her comb up from behind Kyla’s ear and repeating it a bit further back. “You’ll look cute in box braids, I think.” she mused, the comb moving rhythmically over Kyla’s scalp.

“What’s a box braid?” Kyla asked, meeting the stylist’s eyes in the mirror.

“Oh, you poor thing.” the woman tutted. “I’ll get the style book once your hair’s all cleaned out.”

“Okay.” Kyla said, and almost nodded but then remembered that moving your head while getting your hair done wasn’t a great idea. Sure enough, less than two minutes later her hair was all curly again and she was even able to finger-comb a chunk down to cover her eyebrows while the stylist fetched a book of pictures.

“These are box braids, dear.” she said, opening the book and pointing to a picture of a woman with, well, boxy braids.

“How long do they take?” Kyla asked, looked up at the stylist.

“Oh, for hair as short as yours, not much more than a few hours.”

“A few _hours_?” Nami squawked from the front of the store, audibly surprised.

“Yes, a few hours. To do yours would take significantly longer, maybe even two appointments given the amount of hair you have.”

“It’s very well taken care of, might I add.” the paler stylist said.

“If we’re gone for hours, our nakama will start to worry.” Nami shook her head. “Sorry, Kyla. Brook can do your hair later.”

“Okay.” Kyla said quickly, unfastening the cloak thing and hopping down from the chair. Her hair shifted around her head, a brief motion in her peripheral vision, and she smiled as her curls settled back into place. Nami paid the stylists, not bothering to haggle down the price for once, and as they walked out the door Kyla lifted her hands to drag through her hair. She looked just like she used to, almost. She was taller and stronger and didn’t look quite so much like a little kid anymore, but that was all okay, those changes were inevitable. The burn scars which marred her face and forearms with pale shiny lumpy skin, however, were another story.

People were staring, and she pulled her hair forward a bit on the left to make that side of her face less visible. It didn’t work as well as it would’ve if her hair hadn’t been hacked short after her stint in the hospital, but if she kept her head down and walked close to Nami’s side then people stared more at her sister then at her.

“You okay?” Nami asked after a few blocks, and Kyla ducked her head further.

“I can’t wait til my hair grows out again.” she muttered, kicking at a wadded up candy bar wrapper. “Then I can get bangs like Mom’s and cover this up so people don’t stare.”

Nami didn’t answer, and Kyla snuck a look up at the redheaded navigator. Nami was visibly thinking, the hand not pulling their cart of clothes resting on her chin. Kyla looked down at the street again and pressed her right elbow against the hilts of her swords. It would take at least a year for her hair to be long enough to cover the worst of her scar, and doing so would effectively blind her in one eye, but a year wasn’t really so long when spent with her family and Zoro fought without depth perception all the time so she’d definitely be able to pull it off with some practice.

“Well, if you cut your bangs like Sanji’s, it won’t really help.” Nami said slowly. “But if you want, we could get you some earrings to take the attention off your face.”

“Would that really work?” Kyla asked skeptically. Zoro’s scar was way smaller than hers, and she still noticed it before his earrings.

“Well, if we get your right ear pierced with something nice and flashy, then maybe.” Nami smiled, resting a hand on Kyla’s shoulder. “You up for it?”

“Mmhmm.” Kyla nodded once. “Can I get three earrings, like Zoro?”

Nami rolled her eyes, but her smile didn’t diminish. “Of course.”

\---

Kyla reached up and twisted her lowest earring again, just to feel the stud turn between her fingers. The man in the shop had placed her earrings further apart than Zoro’s were, and she was stuck wearing studs until the piercings healed, but Nami had gotten her a set of one-inch hoops to wear once her ears were ready and that was nice.

“Can’t leave him alone for a minute, can you.” Nami sighed, abruptly changing course. “Hey, Zoro!”

Kyla turned, and a grin split her face as she saw her sensei coming towards them.

“Stupid streets keep moving around.” he grumbled, and she giggled. Then his gaze landed on her, and she fell silent as he looked her over. His face was so hard to read, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all. Well, he was frowning a little so she was pretty sure it was nothing good. Was he disappointed, upset? Did he think she looked stupid, dressed up in clothes like the ones he used to wear all the time? She ducked her head to look at the street.

“You look like a proper swordsman now.” he said, and her head snapped up as a hand ruffled her hair. Zoro was smiling, just a bit but he was. “Earrings and scars and all.”

Kyla grinned, and reached up to twist her lowest stud again. “Really?”

“Of course.” Zoro lifted his hand from her hair. “I expect you to have improved significantly from your last mastery test.”

“I won’t disappoint you, sensei.” Kyla nodded her head once, and Nami muttered something about swordsmen but she didn’t care. Zoro was right, swordsmen had scars, and didn’t need to hide them. Her bangs would stay the same, and she would wear her burns with pride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not particularly happy with this chapter, but it covers some things I feel are important. Namely Kyla getting her look and her confidence back.


	50. Age 14: Reunion Part 5

Kyla had barely finished putting her new clothes away when someone knocked on the door. She shut the drawer, and crossed the room to pull the door open. The silent hinges were comforting after a year of quietly protesting doors, and she looked down to see Chopper with a stern look on his face. On any other member of the crew it would’ve been scary, but her smallest nakama was just about incapable of being threatening in his default form.

“You’re overdue for a checkup.” he huffed, and Kyla giggled. Chopper’s stern face melted into a smile, and she followed him around the outside of the kitchen to the infirmary.

“I’m overdue for a mastery test, too.” she mused, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, but Zoro had to promise he wouldn’t test you until tomorrow.” Chopper pushed his chair over and climbed up on it, holding out a hoof. “Let me see your arm.”

Kyla obligingly lifted her left arm, and held still as Chopper poked at the scar tissue. It still weirded her out, seeing her hands so pale, but she was getting used to it much faster than her mutilated reflection. The instant Sanji had spotted her replayed in her mind unbidden, the moment before he recognized her stretching into an eternity. He hadn’t recognized her, he’d thought she was just another islander. She still had to fix her eyebrows, but at least her bangs covered the angular arches now.

“Kyla?” Chopper clicked his hoof in front of her face, and she blinked.

“Wha?”

“How old are these?” Chopper gestured to the burns, and she had to think for a minute.

“Uh, seven months? Maybe closer to eight.”

“Well, they’ve healed very well.” he nodded his head once, and Kyla pulled her arm back when it was released. “Now I need to check under your haramaki.”

Kyla squeaked, and covered the tattered golden fabric with both her arms. “Why?”

Chopper gave her a deadpan stare. “Kyla, you’re not careless enough to cut your own haramaki, so that stitching must be from an attack.”

“Oh.” Kyla looked down at the stitching in question, perfectly matched in colour but still visibly a newer patch job than the ones from her last mastery test. “Okay.” she untucked her tank top and folded it up so the bottom hem sat just under her armpits. Shimmying out of her haramaki was a pain, and not for the first time she wished it was malleable enough to fold over itself. But then again, if she could do that it wouldn’t be nearly as good as armour.

“What type of weapon was it?” Chopper asked, prodding at the edges of the scar all the way from her stomach to the bottom of her ribs.

“A sword, a really big one.” Kyla shivered at the memory of the powerful swing which probably would’ve cut her in two if she hadn’t slipped and fallen on her face. “It only went, like, half an inch in?”

“Wait, this was a _stab_?” Chopper squeaked.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded. “Same day as I got these.” she gestured to her forearms, and got the distinct impression that Chopper paled under his fur.

“What happened?”

“Can you promise not to tell Mom?” she asked, curling her fingers in the loose fabric of her new pants. Sanji wouldn’t be happy to hear about the fight no matter what, but to hear about it from Chopper would assure that he only knew the event in terms of her injuries.

“Of course.” the reindeer said, patting her knee with one little hoof.

“Last fall, some pirates attacked the school. I fought them, but I had to use _Yaki Oni Giri_ more than once.”

“Oh thank the gods.” Chopper sighed. “I was worried you’d been set on fire.”

Kyla giggled, and folded her arms over the exposed scar on her torso. “No, just a side effect of setting my swords on fire.”

“Well, you’ve obviously healed up fine.” Chopper grinned. “I’ll just get the things for the rest of your checkup. You can put your haramaki back on, if you want.”

“Okay.” Kyla unfolded her shirt, and had her haramaki halfway back on when a question came to mind. “Is there any way to fix the colour?”

“Hmm?”

“My scars.” she clarified. “Is there any way to make them, like, the right colour again?”

Chopper sighed, and she sat back down when her haramaki was back in place. “Sorry, Kyla. There’s no way to put colour back into skin that’s been depigmented. If there was, Torao would’ve found it by now.”

“Okay.” Kyla frowned. It was such a small thing, but for a minute she’d really hoped that Chopper would be able to fix everything.

“Alright, now say Ah.”

\---

Sanji was putting away the groceries he’d bought when the infirmary door swung open and Kyla shuffled out, looking unusually subdued. Her hair was back to its usual unruly poof, bangs covering her eyebrows, and in his opinion her new tank top was more suitable for a grown woman than a barely-teenage girl but she’d been happy about it when she came back from shopping with Nami so he wouldn’t say anything. Chopper had just brought her in for an overdue checkup, though, so what had happened that she was looking upset? Sanji frowned and looked towards the infirmary. He’d rather not kick Chopper’s ass, but if the tiny doctor had made Kyla sad then he didn’t have much choice.

She lifted a hand to grab the doorknob, and paused. Oh, that was it. Kyla was worried about her scars, wasn’t she? She was a teenage girl, only just starting to grow into the beauty she would one day become, and already her deft hands and lovely face had been marred by pallid burns. What girl wouldn’t be upset by that?

“Hey, Eggplant.” he said, getting her attention. She turned to look at him, and he suppressed a wince at the sight of her scarred face. It would take a while for him to get used to the pale, shiny skin which stretched up from her left cheek and wrapped around the outer edge of her eye, disappearing under her hair to cover her ear. He wanted to hurt the bastards who had hurt her badly enough to leave such massive scars, who’d dared to lay a flame to her perfect skin, and he knew that feeling would never go away. Hell, he still occasionally wanted to kick Eneru’s teeth in when he looked at the lightning scars which twisted across Robin’s beautiful face.

“Yeah?” she asked, and the wariness in her tone cut deeper than any blade ever could. What had happened to his darling girl to strip away her utter fearlessness?

“I could use an extra pair of hands to help putting away the groceries.” he smiled gently, heart lighting up when she smiled back. That was more like the Kyla he knew, strong even in circumstances no child should have to endure.

“Okay.” she crossed the room and picked up the neatly wrapped bacon he’d picked up for breakfast tomorrow. He was thinking quiche, Kyla liked that quite a bit and he could easily make one for Luffy which had more meat than the others. Or, well, two or three for Luffy. His captain had a bottomless pit for a stomach. They finished putting everything away quickly, but and as Kyla turned to leave Sanji realized there was an important question he had yet to ask her.

“Did you want anything special for your party?”

“Huh?” Kyla turned around and frowned at him, visibly confused. “Party?”

“We weren’t back in time for your birthday, but that’s no reason not to celebrate.” Sanji grinned and ruffled her hair. “It’s not every day the most adorable girl on our crew turns fourteen.”

Kyla ducked her head at that, and Sanji had a pretty good idea what sort of thoughts were troubling her. The lightning marks on his face had been one of the foremost things on his mind after Skypiea, and those were minor compared to Kyla’s burns. “Hey.” he said softly, crouching a bit so they were the same height. The hand resting on her head moved down to rest on her left shoulder. “Would I lie to you?”

Kyla hesitated a moment, then shook her head. “But half my face is coloured wrong now, and-”

“Kyla.” Sanji said firmly, taking his hand off her shoulder to tilt her chin up. The other he used to pull his bangs back from his face, revealing the worst of the lightning scars Eneru had left. Kyla, to her credit, only glanced at them for a split second before locking eyes with him. “All of us have scars. Even Brook, and he doesn’t have any skin to scar.”

That got a giggle out of her, and he let his bangs fall back into place. “Skull joke.” she murmured under her breath.

“Don’t tell Brook, okay Eggplant?” he grinned, sliding his hand to cup her scarred cheek. The burn was rough under his palm, uneven, and her damaged skin was almost as pale as his.

“I won’t.” she smiled, but it was a small thing, restrained.

“Nami and Robin are no less beautiful for their scars, Kyla.” Sanji said, standing back up and running a thumb under her eye to wipe away a budding tear. “And neither are you.”

“Or Luffy or Zoro?” she asked, a familiar teasing grin on her face.

Sanji sighed, and ruffled her hair again. “I sincerely hope you have better taste in men than that.” he grinned down at her. An odd look crossed her face, something between guilt and fear, but it was gone in an instant. Probably the realization that if she ever brought home another swordsman Zoro would almost certainly fight the poor boy. “But really, did you want anything special for your party? There’s still time for me to get something, if we don’t have it.”

She thought for a moment, then her eyes widened. “The Square Knots!”

Sanji raised an eyebrow. Square Knots might’ve been a local food, but the article in front implied otherwise. “What’s that?” he asked, and Kyla giggled.

“They’re my friends! Kalani’s one of them, she’s the captain’s sister actually.”

“Captain?” Sanji’s other eyebrow joined the first, though Kyla probably couldn’t tell since it was behind his bangs.

“Uh-huh, they’re a pirate crew. They’re kinda dumb, since they’re all islanders, but they’re really nice and Kalani-” she stopped abruptly and blushed, her freckles hiding in the dark of it and her burnt cheek turning an adorable shade of pink. “Well, you met Kalani.”

“The girl who tried to defend you. I remember.” Sanji said, nodding his head once. If Kyla was worried he’d be upset because her friend tried to attack him, he’d just have to remind her that he would never blame a girl for trying to defend herself or a friend. She seemed to recall that on her own, because the blush faded from her cheeks. “I’m sure Luffy wouldn’t object to having your friends over for the party.”

“Well, actually…” Kyla grinned, small but brilliant. “The Square Knots found out last weekend that my birthday was almost three months ago, and we were gonna have a little party today.”

“Really?” Sanji grinned.

“Uh-huh.” Kyla nodded, then her smile abruptly fell. “We were gonna have it at the branch fort, but that’s at the school so there’s no way that’ll be happening.” she looked to the side and grumbled something which sounded suspiciously like “shitty Marines.”

“Well, it’s not like the Sunny’s not big enough for us to invite a few more kids to the party.” Sanji patted Kyla on the head. “How many are there?”

“Four.”

“How about this. You and Usopp go tell your friends that they can come here for the party, and I’ll tell Luffy what you’re up to.”

“You’re the best, Mom!” Kyla cried, throwing her arms around his chest and butting her head against his sternum. Sanji hugged her back, and exhaled quietly. His little girl was home and safe and happy, and that was a vast improvement over yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, more Square Knots! The mention of Law is because in my headcanon Amber Lead Poisoning left pale splotches on his skin even after he cured himself. To anyone else it just looks like vitiligo, but Law considers them scars and has no doubt spent a significant amount of time trying to see if he could re-pigment the skin.
> 
> In manga news, holy FUCK I can't wait for the asskicking to start. Seriously, just, fuck the Vinsmokes. Sanji as a quadruplet, though, I just can't get behind. Reiju and ichiji should be twins, Niji two or three years younger than them, Sanji three or four years younger than him, Yonji another few years younger than Snooj and Goju (look me in the fucking face and tell me snaj didn't have a baby sister i will **fight u** ) seven or eight years younger than Sanji. Making them quadruplets is so fucking lazy ugh I'm gonna be salty about that for like a month.


	51. Age 14: Reunion Part 6

Kyla easily clambered down the Sunny’s ladder, dropping the last few feet onto the dock. Usopp followed a minute later, and the younger pirate took the sniper’s hand to lead him through the bustling port. She had to lead the way, and she was still small enough to get lost in the crowd, so Sanji had insisted she hold onto Usopp until they were off the dock.

"So, these friends of yours are pirates, huh?"

"Yep." Kyla nodded, sidestepping a guy dropping baskets of crabs into a cart. "Kalani’s the best, she’s their navigator and vice-captain. Moana is Kalani’s brother, he’s the shipwright and captain. Cam is the medic, and Amets is the swordsman."

"So they don't have a sniper?" Usopp frowned.

"Well, Cam's got a pretty good arm, but Moana wants to get a huge crew once he makes a big enough ship to carry everyone."

The trip was fairly uneventful, nobody giving either of them a second glance, and as they approached the patch of steep narrow beach directly below the fort, Kyla slowed slightly. She’d only scaled this cliff twice, and her hands were a little sweaty.

"They're up there?" The sniper asked.

"Yep.” Kyla wiped her hands on her haramaki, right wrist brushing against Sengo’s hilt. “Let me go up first and warn them."

The handholds were clearly visible, chalky white still from the last time Amets beat his own record, and Kyla heard the paler swordsman humming before she popped her head up over the edge with a grin. "Yo!"

"Ky!" Kalani's face lit up, and the Straw Hat girl pulled herself up onto the clifftop in time to get a quick kiss followed by a massive hug. “You came back.” the brown-skinned navigator said quietly, pulling back and taking Kyla’s hand in her own.

“Well duh I came back.” Kyla rolled her eyes. “There’s been a bit of a change in plans.”

“Kalani told us.” Moana grinned. “I’m surprised they let you out of their sight. You always make them out to be super overprotective.”

“Well, I’m not entirely out of their sight.”

“One of them’s here?” Amets sat up straight, eyes suddenly wide. Kyla suddenly wondered how he’d react to meeting Zoro.

Kyla nodded, and called out "You can come up now." loud enough to be heard over the breaking waves.

She glanced over her shoulder, and grinned at the sight of Usopp's head popping up over the edge of the cliff. Cam shrieked and pitched a clod of dirt at the adult pirate, which glanced off his hat harmlessly.

Usopp laughed, and Kyla smiled as Kalani screamed, squeezing her hand tight. Usopp ducked at the sound, until he realized that this girl wasn’t winding up for a throw.

"That's _God Usopp_!" Kalani squealed, bouncing hard enough to tug on the freckled swordsman's arm.

"Indeed I am, miss Kalani." the sniper grinned confidently, tipping his hat as if he hadn't been trying to dodge a nonexistent dirt clod seconds before. "I've come to collect you kids for a party."

"Oh, we'll have to stop by my house first." Amets said quickly, scrambling to his feet. "That's where Ky's presents are."

"My place too." Cam added. "I need to change."

"And ours." The twins chorused. "We've got a surprise."

"Good thing we got here early." Kyla chuckled. "You guys are awful at getting anywhere on time."

"Well we were gonna get them before we headed to port." Moana grumbled, clambering to his feet.

“You were gonna head to port?” Kyla raised an eyebrow under her bangs.

“Well if your family took you back, where else would you be?” Cam crossed her arms.

“Also, y’know, your mom was carrying you towards the port.” Kalani grinned, shifting her grip so she could lace her fingers with Kyla’s.

Usopp snorted. “Word of warning, don’t tell Sanji you’ve been calling him Kyla’s mom. Kyla’s the only one allowed to call him that.” The Square Knots nodded as one, and Usopp grinned as he straightened his hat. "Alrighty then. If you could lead the way, Captain Moana.” he gestured expansively with his arm, and Moana beamed.

\---

It only took half an hour to hit all three homes, and as they headed down to the port each Square Knot crewmember carried a box of some sort. Even Cam, who had changed out of her dusty grass-stained shirt and shorts into the grey sundress she wore for the winter formal. Kalani had the only one not wrapped in fun colourful paper, probably the “surprise” cake they’d meant to share when the plan had been for a party on the school grounds, and only Usopp's hand on the top of Kyla's head kept her from suggesting they stop now and open everything.

Moana was the first to scale the Sunny's ladder, followed quickly by Amets and Cam, with Kalani bringing up the rear. Kyla and Usopp went last, and when the Straw Hats dropped over the railing they were treated to an unusual sight. Moana had planted himself in front of the other Square Knots, arms crossed over his chest, and was glaring at the crew of the Pirate King.

"I wanna speak with your captain." he said firmly, using what Kalani and Amets called his 'captain voice'. Kyla rolled her eyes, but a moment later Luffy was standing in front of the teenage pirate. Cam and Amets shot Kyla questioning looks, and she could only shrug. Usopp chuckled and leaned back against the railing. 

"You've got some great friends, Kyla. " the sniper muttered under his breath.

"I'm the captain." Luffy's expression and tone were neutral, and Kyla shivered. Even if he wasn't trying to be scary, Luffy without the slightest hint of a smile set her on edge.

"I'm not sure I want to let you guys take away our sellsword." Moana lifted his chin, and met Luffy's piercing gaze without flinching, which was an impressive feat in and of itself. "She's supposed to be part of your nakama, but you left her behind for a year and a half."

Zoro lowered the hand which had gone to his swords, and Luffy's face became serious. Kyla felt a chill run down her spine. Zoro was halfway to smiling and completely relaxed, but Luffy was looking like he meant business. Those two put together could only prelude something massive going down.

"You're right."

Kyla blinked. Had she heard that properly?

"We shouldn’t have left her alone." Luffy took off his hat, and crouched so he was eye to eye with the Square Knot's captain. "Thank you for being her nakama when we weren't there."

Moana nodded once, and Luffy's face split in a wide grin as he straightened up. The hat went back on his head, and his shishishi laugh rang out across the deck. "I like these kids." he stated simply, and Kyla finally remembered to breathe.

"Oh my god, Moana!" Kalani smacked her twin in the back of the head and shoved his box back into his arms. "I tell you to be cool, and you _insult the Pirate King_?!"

"They were jerks to Ky." the shorter twin grumbled, shifting the present to one arm so he could rub the back of his head with the other.

"That's not enough of a reason to pick a fight with the Pirate King!" Kalani stamped her foot, and set down her box so she could cross her arms. "What if he'd decided to punch your head off your shoulders? Then we'd never get to set sail for real!"

"Well, he didn't." Moana's frown looked less petulant now, more worried.

"Hey, hey."

Kyla grinned at the sight of a large metal hand coming between the bickering siblings, and looked up to see Franky with his stern big brother face on. "Hi, bro." she gave a little wave, and the cyborg pirate returned the gesture with his free hand before turning his gaze back to the twins.

"I heard this is supposed to be a party, so no fighting." the cyborg grinned, and was met with three pairs of sparkly eyes.

Cam sighed, and set about picking up the dropped boxes. “Nerds.” she huffed under her breath, selecting a clothes box and holding it out to Kyla. “Here, this one’s from me.”

“O-kay?” Kyla accepted the box and weighed it in her hands, definitely clothing, and rather a lot of it.

“Dinner’s almost done.” Sanji called from the kitchen. “Usopp, could you get in here?”

“Well, aren’t you going to open it?” Cam asked, shifting her grip on the stack of boxes.

“Oh, right.” Kyla grabbed the wrapping paper and pulled it back from the box with a ripping sound. Usually birthday presents were opened after breakfast, as was tradition in East Blue according to the ones who had grown up there, but surely there were exceptions. She crumpled the wrapping paper into a ball, and Cam took it from her as she opened the box, placing it on the pile in her arms. There, inside the plain cardboard box, was a familiar suit.

“Didn’t I tell you to return this?” Kyla frowned. “I’m pretty sure I handed it over the Monday after the dance and told you to take it back to Unique.”

“Yeah, but Kalani veto’d that.” Cam smirked as Kyla shut the lid of the box. “Said it would be a damn shame to get rid of a specially tailored suit like that.”

“Take it back.” Kyla frowned, shoving the box at her friend.

“No.” Cam shoved it back at her with one hand, and fixed her black eyes with Kyla’s deep brown. “You’re gonna go put it on.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because Kalani likes it.” Cam smirked again and returned to holding the stack of boxes with both hands. “And you two are the sappiest saps I’ve ever seen.”

“We’re not sappy!” Kyla huffed, tucking the box under one arm. “Gimme the paper, I’ll throw it away.”

Cam obliged, and Kyla slipped past Sanji and Usopp setting food out on a picnic blanket into the room she shared with Nami and Robin. Changing was a quick enough thing, the hardest part being the process of yanking her haramaki past her hips, but as she smoothed down the suit jacket Kyla’s fingers brushed something which hadn’t been there the last time she wore this outfit. She paused, and looked down at the right side of her pants. Yeah, those were definitely not belt loops her fingers were hooking through. A smile split her face, and she slid her swords into the three loops of fabric. They sat a bit lower than they did on her haramaki, but other than that it was perfect. Kalani was going to love this.


	52. Age 14: Reunion Part 7

Robin raised an eyebrow as Kyla walked out of their bedroom in a full suit, complete with tailcoat. Her other eyebrow went up when Kyla sat down next to the tallest of the islanders, and whispered something that made the paler girl blush.

“Oh my gods, Kyla!” Nami beamed, leaning across the corner of the picnic blanket to ruffle their youngest nakama’s hair. “You look so cute!”

“Just like your mom.” Zoro added with a small smirk, and Robin chuckled. Usopp did too, but he had to duck as Sanji spun to his feet and snapped a kick at Zoro’s head. The pair were sparring in no time, and Robin grinned into her drink. They were putting on a show for Kyla’s friends, there was no other reason for them to be going so easy on each other, or making their blows so loud.

“Aren’t they worried about breaking the ship?” Moana whispered loudly to Kyla.

“Nah.” Kyla shook her head. “Haven’t I told you? My big bro’s the best shipwright in the eight seas.”

“Seven.” Amets said absently, the type of automatic response which came from correcting someone regularly for months on end.

“It’s eight, actually.” Nami said, drawing the attention of all five teenagers. “Even counting All Blue as part of the New World, there’s still the cloud sea.”

“Wouldn’t that make it nine?”

Surprisingly, it was Kalani who spoke up, rich brown eyes locking with Nami’s pale ones. The navigator grinned and took a drink from her mug. “Well, I don’t usually count the cloud sea since it’s not contiguous, but it is a sea of this world.” her eyes flicked between the twins, settling on Kalani with a considering expression.

Robin smiled. Her room mate had noticed as well. That look was usually reserved for Zoro and Sanji, or occasionally for herself and Franky, though Robin was fairly certain that the exact nature of her relationship with the cyborg was still private. Amets didn’t notice the dumpling about to slide off of his fork, too absorbed in Sanji and Zoro’s sparring, and Robin didn’t think before blooming an arm to tilt his wrist up. The teen screamed, shrill enough that Sanji stopped with his heel against Zoro’s swords and snapped his head around, and Robin let her extra limb dissolve into flower petals. Right, these children had never seen her power in use before. Even Kyla had screamed the first time, and her youngest nakama was almost as fearless as Luffy.

Chopper Luffy and Usopp laughed, and Kyla joined in a moment later. “Oh my gods your _face_!”

“Ky, what the hell?!” Moana huffed, reaching across his twin to give Kyla a playful shove.

“Wha- I-” Amets dropped his fork, and Robin bloomed another arm to catch it before it hit the grass.

“Wouldn’t want to waste food, would you?” she smiled, raising an eyebrow into one of the expressions which never failed to make Kyla do her schoolwork. It seemed to work on the paler teenage swordsman just as well, because he flushed and took his fork back. Robin let her arm dissolve into petals once again, and Cam trapped one in her hands before it disintegrated into dust.

“Are your extra limbs made of flower petals?” she asked, watching the blossom fade away into nothing.

“Yes.” Robin smiled, and held her hand out over the grass before rapidly conjuring and dissolving several eyes on her palm, causing a shower of petals to rain down. “But all together, they can form whatever organ I wish.” she let an eye remain, and tilted her hand up to show the islander children, all of whom were leaning forwards to better see the cascade of flowers.

Kalani squeaked and grabbed Kyla’s hand, leaning into the swordsman without hesitation. Almost definitely more than friends, unless Kyla was as dense as both her parents, but Kalani didn’t seem to be one for timidity in a relationship so the chances of it being an unspoken mutual attraction were low. The other three teenagers yelped and fell backwards, setting Luffy Usopp and Chopper off in a fresh round of laughter. Robin let the eye on her palm dissolve into petals, and cast her gaze around for Franky and Brook. They tended not to eat as much, being respectively cyborg and skeleton, and Franky was taking the time to string more fairy lights in the rigging while Brook absently tuned his violin.

Later there would be dancing, and Robin had a hunch that she would be able to confirm her suspicions about Kyla and Kalani then. Her youngest nakama was a gifted dancer, graceful enough that she could’ve been a professional in a kinder world, but Kyla’s dancing was always somehow _brighter_ with those she loved most. It was a bit like a glow, Robin supposed, and if it was a glow then the brightest she’d ever seen it was the time Sanji let Kyla dance on his feet the day she turned eight because her legs simply hadn’t been long enough to keep up. If Kyla’s glow tonight surpassed that, then she was definitely in love with Kalani, and Robin wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.

\---

Kyla laughed breathlessly, and flopped down on the bench which ringed the mast. Kalani followed suit, and Kyla twined her fingers with her girlfriend’s. “You’ve gotten better at this.”

“Dancing?” Kalani grinned, giving her hand a brief squeeze. “I’ve had a good teacher.”

A giggle bubbled up out of Kyla’s chest, and she leaned against Kalani a bit. Everything was just so perfect and _right_ , even the weather was flawless, warm with just a hint of a breeze and not a cloud in the sky. She wanted this moment to last forever.

“I got you something special.” Kalani said quietly, her voice soft enough that Kyla was sure nobody else could hear it.

“Really?” Kyla grinned, heart rate picking up just a bit.

“Mmhmm.” Kalani nodded and reached into one of the pockets of her dress. “I got it months ago, but I wanted to save it for your birthday.” she pulled out a small cloth bag, and placed it gently in Kyla’s palm. It didn’t feel like a necklace, but maybe a bracelet, something heavy and chunky.

Kyla released Kanali’s hand to open the bag, and pulled its contents out on a hooked finger. It was a thick braid, three golden wires twined with two silk cords, one seastone green and the other a deep blue. Not a bracelet at all, but an ornament, likely to replace the one now sitting around her wrist. “It’s perfect, Kalani.” Kyla beamed, twisting the gift into her palm and throwing her arms around her girlfriend. The taller girl laughed, and hugged her back tightly for a moment before one hand drifted up to sink into her curls.

“Your hair’s so pretty like this.” Kalani whispered, and Kyla’s cheeks hurt from the force of her smile.

“You think so?” she asked, pulling away but keeping her forearms resting on Kalani’s shoulders, wrists crossed behind her girlfriend’s neck.

“Absolutely.” Kalani said with conviction, her fingers running over Kyla’s scalp gently. Kyla shivered, and leaned in to hug her girlfriend again.

“I wanna kiss you so much right now.” she breathed, and Kalani’s hand didn’t even pause as it carded through her curls.

“How about you show me where you train on this ship?” the paler girl asked conversationally, making no indication that she was going to let Kyla go.

“That’d be rude.” Kyla pulled back, and Kalani didn’t try to keep her close. “I still gotta open everyone else’s presents, and Mom hasn’t even brought out dessert yet!”

“Well, then can we just stay here a bit longer?” Kalani’s tone wasn’t quite pleading, but Kyla had no doubt it easily could’ve been.

“Yeah, sure.” she smiled and twirled her girlfriend’s gift around her fingers. “It’ll take me a while to get this on Sengo properly, after all.”

Kalani smiled back, and scooted close again, practically sitting behind Kyla on the bench. Kyla looked down, and a pleasant tingle ran down her spine as her girlfriend’s fingers worked into her hair again. She paused with Sengo in her lap, and leaned her head back a bit. Gods, how she wished she could just pull Kalani up into the crow’s nest and kiss her senseless, pin her against the mast and kiss her neck and face until she was an incoherent mess. She wanted it so fiercely it was frightening, and the fact that she could picture it so clearly in her head didn’t really help. If anything, it made it worse, intensifying the desire into a feeling she wasn’t sure how to name. It was wonderful and overwhelming and _terrifying_.

A whimpery sigh escaped Kyla’s throat as Kalani’s nails scratched ever so lightly against her scalp, and she opened her eyes to look up at the stars above. When had she closed them? Not that long ago, obviously, since the song was still the same. And just when had they shifted so her head was in Kalani’s lap? Her girlfriend smiled, and long brown fingers raked through Kyla’s curls again, pulling the last strands of her bangs up into the rest of her hair.

“You look better with your eyebrows like that.” Kalani said, smiling sweetly.

Kyla sat up quickly, and pulled her bangs down to cover her eyebrows once again. Kalani’s face fell, and Kyla winced. “Sorry.” she offered lamely, patting the uneven curls so they’d stay in place. “I like to keep my bangs down.”

“Okay.” Kalani nodded stiffly, and Kyla grabbed her hands.

“It felt good, Kalani.” she grinned, twining their fingers together. “Really good.” she opened her mouth to suggest they do it again some other time when they had a bit more privacy, but closed it without saying anything. They wouldn’t _have_ some other time. This was the last time they’d see each other, probably ever. The impulse to say she was taking Kalani up to see the crow’s nest suddenly intensified, but she stamped that down. She’d regret missing out on the one real party she’d have with her friends, and if she pulled Kalani up to have some time alone there were any number of things which could happen to make her regret it. No, better to stay down here and enjoy the party.

Kyla looked down at Sengo, and quickly tied the new ornament tight around his saya. Once it was back on her hip, she stood and offered Kalani a hand. The song was winding down, which meant a new dance would be starting soon. “Care for another spin?” she asked, pulling a smile onto her face. She’d be saying goodbye soon, but she’d be damned if she didn’t spend the rest of her night having fun with her friends and girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had a lot of fun writing from Robin’s pov, despite this being my first try at it. I thought it’d be a chore, but she surprised me, as the Straw Hats tend to do.
> 
> (Personal anecdote, I now have a signature from Law's VA! Matthew Mercer is such a cinnamon roll <3)


	53. Age 14: Reunion Part 8

With dessert well over and the islander teens starting to come down from their mild sugar highs, Usopp wasn’t particularly surprised when Sanji picked up one of the small stack of wrapped boxes and handed it to Kyla.

“That one’s from me.” Amets said, perking up as Kyla ripped through the wrapping. The clothes box inside was plain white, but the contents were a brilliant warm gold with solid lines of deep vibrant green.

“A new haramaki?” Kyla asked skeptically, fairly obviously thinking that it was superfluous since she already had two.

“An adult sized haramaki.” Cam grinned. “Your old one is way too small for those hips.”

Usopp glanced briefly at Sanji, and almost laughed at the look on his nakama’s face. The chef looked like he’d just been knocked over the head with one of Zoro’s weights. It only lasted a split second, just until Kyla started laughing at something her girlfriend whispered in her ear, and then Sanji’s expression shifted into a warm smile. Usopp wondered if the blond had realized yet that their youngest nakama was more than just friends with the tallest of the islander teens, but quickly dismissed the notion. Sanji would definitely have reacted, even if only in shock.

“It looks perfect, thanks you guys.” Kyla beamed, pressing the thick fabric to her chest.

“Open mine next.” Cam said eagerly, and Usopp tossed the pink haired girl the remaining box she’d been carrying on the way over. She caught it easily, and handed it over to Kyla, who had laid the haramaki on her lap.

Kyla pulled it open, and Usopp raised an eyebrow at the contents. A bandana in a colour close to seastone green, with a black and white rope pattern around the edges which looped into a complicated knot in the center of the fabric and featured a bold square knot in the middle of each edge.

“Omg!” Kyla squealed, immediately folding it into a triangle and holding it against her head so it covered a good amount of her hair. “Zoro, look, now we can match!”

Usopp couldn’t help it, he snorted. Kyla probably didn’t even realize how adorable she was being. Actually, no, she definitely didn’t realize how adorable she was being. Kyla was wholly focused on Zoro, and when Kalani broke that focus by pulling the bandana from her hands Kyla only gave the paler girl a brief glance before looking back at Zoro expectantly.

Usopp looked at Zoro, and watched as a proud smile spread across his scarred face. “Your scar’s even on the right side.” he said, tapping next to his left eye.

Kyla beamed, and didn’t seem to notice at all when Kalani pulled the bandana down to hang around her neck, then twisted it and pulled it back up. Her bangs lifted, and Kalani deftly tucked the fabric point under the knot behind Kyla’s head. “Y’know what.” Usopp said, putting a hand on his chin. “You do look just like Zoro.” he glanced at the World’s Greatest Swordsman again and grinned. “Too bad you lost the beard and sunglasses, or it would’ve been perfect.”

Zoro seemed puzzled by this for a moment, as did all five teenagers, but then Robin giggled. “Dressrosa, remember?”

“Oh, yeah!” Luffy laughed. “Zoro wore a suit!”

Usopp hadn’t thought Kyla’s grin could get any brighter after Zoro’s praise. He’d been wrong.

“Mine shoulda been first, since I’m captain, but here.” Moana reached across to grab the last remaining box, and placed it in Kyla’s hands. It was another clothes box, though evidently much lighter than the first one from the way Kyla held it. The paper went just as fast as the first two, and Usopp reached out to grab a scrap before the gentle breeze could blow it too far. Kyla lifted out a pale green shirt with two crossed swords printed on the front in shiny gold. “I couldn’t find any with three swords, or with katanas, but cutlasses are piratey right?”

“It’s really cute.” Kyla smiled, and pulled the boy into a one armed hug. “Even looks like it’s my size.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Moana beamed.

Usopp smiled and sat back, glancing around at his nakama. Sanji and Nami were still tense, Robin had that knowing sort of smile which meant she’d noticed Kyla’s girlfriend, but most everyone else looked fairly relaxed. It had been a good party, and now it was time for Kyla to part with the first real friends she’d had a chance to make since joining their crew. Zoro was either confident she’d do it right or he just didn’t care, but Sanji and Nami were pretty obviously worried about it.

Usopp was fairly sure Kyla had been preparing herself for this since Sanji scooped her up and brought her home, but he was still a little wary. Not because he thought that Kyla might take it badly, but because if she did someone might have to restrain Sanji, and he would have to be ready to duck out of the way so nobody thought to ask him to do it. That was Zoro’s job, or occasionally Robin’s. Admittedly the last time he’d had to hold Sanji back it had been to stop him from attacking Zoro, who Robin had been restraining, but _still_.

\---

Kalani paused as her brother ushered Cam over the railing, then stepped aside and grabbed Kyla’s arm. The swordswoman followed her along the rail for a few steps, and gave her a confused look when they stopped.

“What’s up?”

Kalani sighed, and slid her hand down Kyla’s arm to grip the darker girl’s scarred hand. “I’m not gonna see you again, am I?”

Kyla blinked a few times, then visibly forced a small smile. “Can’t say that for any measure of certainty, now can I? Luffy’s the one who decides where we go.”

Kalani sighed again. That was as close to a no as she needed. “Well, if they never see me again, at least your family can’t get mad at me for doing this.” she grinned, and Kyla’s eyes widened minutely as she pulled her sturdy girlfriend in for a kiss.

Kyla squeaked a little when their lips met, but her arms came up behind Kalani automatically and she didn’t pull away. Kyla was warm in her arms, solid muscle wrapped in perfect dark skin and sinfully beautiful formalwear. She held the swordswoman tighter, heedless of the sword hilts pressing kinda awkwardly against her thigh. This was their last kiss, and she was a bit limited by the fact that their audience was Kyla’s family, but gods be damned if she wasn’t going to make the most of it anyways.

Kalani dug a hand into Kyla’s hair, and oh if her girlfriend’s new curls didn’t provide a much better handhold. She tilted her wrist slightly, just enough to tug at a few of the hairs she’d grabbed, and Kyla’s breath hitched. Kalani let her girlfriend clutch her closer, and clung back with almost equal force. But she couldn’t stop time, couldn’t even slow it down, and when the breath in her lungs ran out she had to pull away. Kyla had snuck a hand around the back of her head when she wasn’t paying attention, though, so she couldn’t pull away very far, and they wound up with their foreheads pressed together. With Kyla’s hair tucked under her new bandana.the contact was even still skin to skin.

“And here I thought you didn’t like PDA.” Kalani smiled.

“I would’ve regretted not kissing you.” Kyla said simply, as if that was all there was to it. And who knew, with a member of the Straw Hats as her girlfriend, maybe it really _was_ that simple.

“I love you.” she said under her breath, doing her best to ignore the watching members of Kyla’s family. “May the tides guide your heart.”

It was a variation on an old blessing. The original was meant to ensure a sailor’s safe return to their home island, but one of its many variations was a prayer for the receiver to be lead true by the sea. Kalani wasn’t quite sure what it meant to be ‘lead true’ but it seemed appropriate, and it was better than saying goodbye.

Kyla’s hands fell to her sides, and Kalani took a step back. She’d turned almost entirely back towards the ladder when Kyla caught her by the wrist and yanked, forcing her to either spin or lose her balance. Kalani spun, and was pulled into a brief kiss which sent searing heat flashing across her skin. “I love you too.” Kyla grinned when she pulled away, hand sliding down to twine with Kalani’s. “I’ll definitely come back here when I’m a proper pirate.” her grin widened a fraction. “And when I do, you can definitely join my crew.”

“What about the others?” Kalani asked, more a knee-jerk reaction than anything else.

“Well, they can come too, but if there’s only one bunk I’m reserving it as yours.” Kyla giggled, practically glowing. Oh, that was just not fair, being so beautiful like that when she was trying to leave. Well, getting the last word couldn’t hurt.

Kalani leaned in until her mouth was right next to Kyla’s ear, then dropped her voice to barely a whisper. “Why bother reserving a bunk when I could just share yours?”

Kyla squeaked, and Kalani laughed as she was shoved back a step. There was no real force in the push, and Kyla was giggling too, and by the gods she was far too in love with this girl to say goodbye to her so soon.

“Hey, Kalani!” Moana called up from the dock. “Quit saying goodbye to your girlfriend and get down here!”

Kyla blushed at that, and Kalani scaled the ladder down in what was probably record time. The second her feet hit the boards of the dock, Moana had an arm around her shoulders. “So, how was the goodbye kiss?”

“I gave her a tidal blessing she said she’ll come back and invite me to her crew when we’re older.” Kalani grinned, her chest feeling full of warmth and light. Kyla kept her promises, so even if it took years and years they would definitely see each other again.

“She _what_?!” Moana squawked, removing his arm from her shoulders to whirl and yell up at the Pirate King’s flagship. “Hey, Ky!”

Kyla leaned over the railing.

“If anything, you’ll be joining _our_ crew! Kalani was my twin way before she was your girlfriend!”

Kalani rolled her eyes, but Kyla laughed and waved down at them. “Good night.”

“Good night!” Kalani called back, Amets and Cam speaking in time with her. Moana just rolled his eyes and gave Kyla a curt wave, turning back around and slinging his arm around her shoulders again. Kalani stifled a yawn, and resolutely fixed her eyes on the streets leading home.

\---

“So, a proper pirate?” Robin asked, her tone conversational.

Kyla froze for a moment anyways, hands clutching her tie, then carefully continued undressing. “Yeah.” she looked down at the tie, and decided to just pull the whole slipknot undone and unknot it once it was off her neck, since it was hard to see what she was doing with her new bandana in the way. “I was kinda part of their crew for a while, and it was...” she paused. Calling it the best thing to happen to her on that forsaken island wasn’t quite true, but calling it the best thing after Kalani was more than she was willing to say. “It was nice.” she said after a long moment, unravelling the knot in her tie and dropping it on the small table Nami used for writing letters sometimes..

“So you intend to leave and find another crew?” Robin asked, her tone neutrally questioning. Kyla kinda hated that she couldn’t even tell what her aunt/big sister was feeling most of the time.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded, finally shucking off her tailed jacket. “Or maybe start my own.” she moved to lay it on the table as well, then thought better of it and hung the dark fabric neatly over the back of the chair to keep it from getting all wrinkled. “Just-” she paused, hands smoothing down the shoulders of her jacket. Just what? She’d spent half of the last year desperately trying to get back to her family and the other half anxiously hoping they’d find her, so it wasn’t like she wanted to get away from them. The Sunny was huge, was her home, and she wouldn’t trade her life here for anything. So why did she want to join another crew?

“You’re growing up.” Robin said softly, and a hand stroked her hair. “Luffy wasn’t much older than you when he left home to become a pirate.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have nakama before you guys.” Kyla didn’t look up, but moved her hands to start unbuttoning her shirt.

“But he did have family.” Robin pointed out. “And he still left, because he wanted to achieve his dream.”

“Which he did.” Kyla grinned, shrugging off her button-down and laying it over the jacket.

“If your dream cannot be achieved with us, that’s okay.” Robin said, her hand stilling atop Kyla’s head. “Usopp, Sanji, and I, we all left the crew at one point or another. Luffy welcomed each of us back with open arms.” her hand lifted, and Kyla relaxed minutely as Robin gave her a gentle hug. “Even if you need to leave us someday, we will always be your family, and we will always love you.”

Kyla grinned, and gripped Robin’s forearms tightly. Robin didn’t lie, not about things like this, and suddenly she felt incredibly tired. “Thanks.” she mumbled, and Robin released her so she could finish changing into her PJs. Her swords settled easily into their spot leaned against the foot of the bed, and she curled up in a slight divot in the middle of the mattress. Nami was on watch, and Robin was sitting in her reading chair with a book, but even alone in the big bed Kyla fell asleep faster than she ever had in the Marine school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooooooooly _shit_ , we’re finally done with Yabus! It only took 34 fucking chapters. Sanji had a mini mental breakdown when he realized Kyla has a _girlfriend_ because he still sees Kyla as his baby girl. To him she’ll always be a little bit that defenseless underfed seven year old he found stowed away in the hold. Also he was kinda hoping to have a chance to properly give her first boyfriend a proper shovel talk, but he can’t threaten a _girl_!
> 
> Also, Sunny’s Girl will be one year old this Thursday, so I’d like to take this chance to thank you 30-odd people who follow this fic. It means a lot to me :}


	54. age 15: Stolen Part 1

Kyla leaned on the railing of the Sunny, and tracked the arriving dockhand with her eyes. Penzag Ilanit, who insisted on being called Ila rather than Miss Penzag. She was only barely taller than Kyla, but the heels she wore made the difference look much bigger. They were the same age, Ila working after school because her father was harbor master and wanted her to take over when she grew up, though she had other plans. She had five younger siblings, three of whom were triplets, and she loved the stars almost as much as she loved the look of a stormy sea.

Kyla knew all this because they’d been docked at Hawkgrass Island for almost a week now, Robin trying to work through some string of half-ruined ancient puzzles which guarded the island’s poneglyph, and she’d spent hours on end talking to Ila. She’d even shifted her training times around so that she would be presentable when the islander arrived. Normally she wouldn’t bother, she’d gotten a lot better at socializing in the eight months since her family picked her up from Yabus and found that it wasn’t worth it to put effort into befriending kids she’d probably never see again, but Ila was special.

Ila had thick wavy black hair, smooth brown skin which was tanned almost as dark as Usopp’s, and a small scar on her chin from where she fell on a crate as a child. Ila had a shine in her vibrant brown eyes and a mischievous streak a mile wide and wore shorts with her school uniform because she couldn’t climb trees as well in a skirt. Ila was beautiful, and Kyla was pretty sure she had a crush on the dockhand. It wasn’t as strong as what she’d felt for Kalani, what she still felt for Kalani when she thought about the Square Knot’s navigator, but the attraction was definitely there. She’d felt it for other people in the past few months, both girls and boys, like Moana had said he did, but the attraction always faded quickly. This time it wasn’t fading.

Ila came out of the harbormaster’s office, hands empty of a brown bookbag, hair pulled back in a single thick braid, and uniform shirt replaced by a red tee patterned with vertical purple zig-zags and a V neck collar _way_ deeper than Sanji would ever let her get away with. Her eyes immediately landed on the Sunny, and she waved enthusiastically. “Hi, Kyla!”

“Hi!” Kyla called back, swinging a leg over the railing and scaling the ladder down. Sanji had finally deemed her old enough to go out on her own, once the island had been cleared as safe, so long as she was home in time for dinner.

“The funniest thing happened in history today.” Ila grinned, clasping her hands behind her back.

“Was it that idiot in the window seat again?” Kyla asked. Something which seemed to be consistent across all islands was the tendency of disruptive idiots sitting near the back of the class in a window seat. Somehow, she could easily see Luffy having been one of those disruptive idiots if school had been mandatory when he was growing up.

“Yeah. He threw a paper airplane at Shayna with a love note on it, but the teacher read it out loud to the whole class.” she giggled, a heehoohoo sound which made Kyla want to laugh along. “Turns out, he’s as bad at poetry as he is at pick-up lines.”

Kyla did laugh then, and Ila smiled brightly. Even though neither of them was good with directions, Ila knew landmarks all throughout the woods on this side of the island and could follow them like breadcrumbs to get just about anywhere.

“I wanna show you something really cool today.” Ila grinned, brilliant as the sun in the sky.

“Okay.” Kyla smiled back, tucking her hands in her pockets. The forest here was much younger than the one on Yabus, its trees smaller and further apart, and of a different sort too. It also didn’t have as many noisy bugs, which was a plus. Today, Ila lead her up a steep switchback path which seemed like it had been worn into the rock by years upon years of feet traversing its length. At the top, the islander paused and turned out to look over the forest.

“I come up here to be alone, when mom and dad are fighting.” she said, leaning back against the pale brown stone.

“It’s beautiful.” Kyla said quietly. The tops of the trees were rippling in a wind that the cliff shielded them from, and with the varying greens it looked like an arboreal recreation of the sea.

“You know what else is beautiful?” Ila asked, a sly smile on her face.

“What?” Kyla willed herself not to blush. Mom called her beautiful and adorable all the time, she should be used to meaningless compliments like that by now.

“This.” Ila turned, and slipped out of sight. Kyla’s mouth fell open, and she leaned in to see that Ila had been standing in front of a final narrow switchback, this one cut into the face of the cliff. Like a narrow tunnel, carved into the stone.

“Wha-”

“I found it years ago. C’mon.” she grinned and held out a hand. “The best part is around the last switchback.”

Kyla took Ila’s hand, and followed her around the final twist in the path. The floor tilted slightly, and a light sprang to life with the sound of grinding rock. Twin gas flames bracketed a stone door carved with such intricate geometric forms it almost looked like there were letters curling through the design. “Holy _shit_.”

“That’s what I said too.” Ila beamed. “C’mon, the door’s way lighter than it looks.” she grabbed one of the handles at the bottom, and Kyla crouched to grip the other. Sure enough, the massive slab of stone lifted easily, with a quiet grinding which probably meant there were counterweights hidden in the wall. “I grew up on legends of this place.” Ila said as they walked through a dusty room, the only clear floor being a narrow path curving towards a door on the right. “There was an old man who lived here, ages ago. He’d been an adventurer, so when some friends he’d made on his travels came to ask for his help, he used his devil fruit to build a fortress in the mountain for them to hide their treasure.”

They stopped in front of another door, and Kyla helped Ila pull this one up as well. It crashed down behind them, thunderous in the silence, but Ila didn’t even flinch. “But see, this old guy didn’t have a devil fruit that just moved rock around or something useful like that.” she grinned, and they stopped in front of a stack of blocks carved just as intricately as the two doors. “He had the Nazo-Nazo No Mi.”

“Puzzles?” Kyla raised an eyebrow.

“They reset themselves every time the hall torches are deactivated.” Ila explained, grabbing an inset handle of one of the stones and pulling. It slid as if it was wheeled, and the blocks on top of it fell cleanly down to fill the space. “Push this one around over there, would you?” Ila gestured, then grabbed the lip of one of the remaining blocks to pull herself up on top of it.

“What if someone else comes up to the door, then leaves?” Kyla asked, shoving the block into position so Ila could pull another block out of the stack.

“Nah.” the islander shook her head, braid swaying across her back. “When the torches come on, the entrance in the cliff face closes up. And I think that the torches won’t go off until everyone who came in comes back out. Part of the magic.” she grinned, hopping down the blocks like massive stairs. Somehow, there was now only one block where the tallest stack had once been. “You wanna do the honours?”

“Sure.” Kyla nodded, stepping in to grab the block and yanking it free. Ila wasted no time in clambering over the strange stone, and Kyla followed after. There was a small square hole cut in the wall, leading to an equally small and square tunnel.

“C’mon, it’s not like there’s any monsters waiting on the other end.” Ila grinned, and turned around to crawl out of sight. Well, damn, that was a nice view of a _very_ nice ass. Kyla blushed, and rapped her knuckles against her forehead. Ila probably wasn’t even interested in her, just excited to have somebody to show off to.

The tunnel wasn’t much longer than she was tall, and the whole thing was remarkably clean. Ila offered her a hand coming out, to help her to her feet, and Kyla took it. The rest of the puzzles were fairly simple, or at least not much more complex than the first, and Kyla wondered what kind of adventures the builder had gone on that he thought this was a better way to guard something than a nice lock and key. If Luffy knew about this place... actually, he probably wouldn’t care.

There was nothing to punch, just a bunch of puzzles which would’ve taken her ages to solve if Ila hadn’t been there. Robin would love it, though. The designs on the doors and pillars and puzzle pieces looked a bit like poneglyph writing, if you tried to recreate it without having seen one in a long time and then twisted half the letters sideways and laid them over each other. Eventually they reached a door which was bigger than the rest, its patterns inlaid with tarnished metal and a big fat key handle sticking out of the middle.

“Some of the others had stone keys that I had to find, my first time through, but they kinda swallowed the keys after I unlocked them. This one, though, I can lock and unlock whenever I’m here.” Ila reached out and twisted the key, making a heavy sound echo through the room. “I guess it’s so you can choose to make the puzzle unsolvable?” she grabbed one of the handles, Kyla grabbed the other. The door made a grinding sound of stone on stone as it lifted up into the ceiling, and Kyla ducked into the chamber after Ila. The torches which hung on the walls flickered to life in pairs, arching out on either side until they curved back in to illuminate a slab of dark stone carved with familiar characters.

“A poneglyph.” Kyla breathed, taking a small step forward. She had to bring Robin here, show her this place. Her nakama would be elated to find not one but _two_ poneglyphs here.

“I thought so too, but everything I could find says they’re indestructible.” Ila sounded almost regretful, and Kyla realized that the stone face was shattered near the bottom, like it had been shot with a large gun. Probably a gun of about the same caliber as the fancy looking firearm on the ground next to it. Kyla blinked, and looked around the room. The space wasn’t particularly large, and small mounds of stuff littered the floor. Mounds of very valuable looking stuff, like gold coins and fancy jewellery and loose precious stones and wads of cash. All of that, _and_ a decoy poneglyph.

“Holy shit.” she muttered, eyes widening.

“Isn’t it cool?” Ila grinned.

“This looks like a pirate hoard.” Kyla said dumbly, her brain still trying to process the fact that Ila, the harbormaster’s daughter, had enough treasure to her name to buy a small ship.

“Well, yeah.” Ila’s grin sharpened. “What self respecting pirate doesn’t have one?”

Kyla looked blankly at the islander girl, blinked a few times, then blinked a few times more. “What?”

Ila stretched and walked over to a mound of blankets, much smaller than any of the other mounds. She dropped down into it, and patted the remaining space, remaining silent until Kyla was seated next to her. “I’ve been appraising for pirate crews since I was ten.” she said, folding her arms behind her head. “Well, mostly one crew actually.” she smiled wistfully, and Kyla settled in for a story.

“I was six when they first came here. Dad always looks the other way when pirates dock with us, since he can charge them extra, but he always warned me to stay away from them. Said they were bad people and might hurt me, take me away, stuff like that.” Ila shrugged. “I think really he didn’t want his eldest kid turning out a pirate. Well, these guys had some kids on their crew, just old enough to do chores and just young enough that I didn’t think twice about going over to ask them to play. They left after about a week, but came back a few months later with a whole load of treasure. They’ve been coming back ever since, though I think they got busted trying to take an island with a Marine base as their own turf last year.

Ila shrugged, and gave Kyla a brief smile before looking back at the ceiling and continuing her story. “Anyways, one of the kids, Yuval, told the captain that I could show them where to get their treasure appraised. I lead the way, and they gave me a small cut. Like, one percent, but it was the most cash I’d ever had at that age.”

“I bet.” Kyla mused, looking around the room.

“Well, after that, I decided I wanted to be an appraiser, so I got the guy to teach me how. Four years ago, I started appraising under the table for most of the pirate crews that dock here, for a reasonable fee of course.” Ila gestured to the piles of treasure, and Kyla laughed.

“Reasonable.”

“What? Ten percent is a very reasonable cut. It just so happens to be a lucrative business, and I may or may not filch some of the treasure when they’re not looking.” she stretched lazily, pulling her arms over her head and back, making her chest stick out. “That bit’s only gotten easier, honestly.” she grinned, razor sharp and oh wow that was a _very_ attractive look on her.

“Why only appraise for most crews?” Kyla asked, forcing herself to look at the piles of treasure around them.

“Well, only most of the pirates who stop here are allied with my crew, and I may be a crooked appraiser but even if my captain’s in Impel Down I’m not dumb enough to piss off the rest of his allies.” Ila shrugged. “Plus, some crews have something worth even more than gold and jewels.” she propped herself up on one elbow and ran her other hand down Kyla’s arm, fingers slowing to a caress as they passed over her scarred skin. Kyla’s breath caught in her throat, and she swallowed hard.

“You’re not the first pirate I’ve caught staring, but you’re the first one who hasn’t made the a move on me.” Ila twisted, and Kyla’s breath caught in her throat as sure hands pressed her shoulders into the blanket pile, Marine blue shorts straddling her thighs. “And you’re the first one who’s had such _sexy_ scars.” Ila breathed, leaning in.

Kyla managed to suck in a breath in before their lips met, but her heart was racing too fast for it to last long so when Ila pulled away she had to gasp for air again. This was nothing like kissing Kalani. Kalani had always started out slow, gentle, and they’d let the kiss proceed as it would. Ila went in hard and fast, and Kyla was kinda shocked by how much she liked it. She gripped Ila by the biceps and managed to flip them so the taller girl was the one pressed into the blankets.

“I like a girl who can take control of the situation.” Ila grinned, so different from her usual innocent sunshine smile and _so_ much hotter.

Kyla leaned in and molded her mouth to Ila’s, sliding her hands down the islander’s sides to latch onto Ila’s hips. That elicited an approving hum, and when they parted for air Ila rolled her hips up against Kyla’s. “What, not gonna hold me down?” she smirked.

“Considering it.” Kyla smirked right back, and leaned in for another heavy kiss before trailing her lips across Ila’s cheekbones. So long as she got home by dinner, this wouldn’t be anything to regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like, I always meant for Kyla to be bi with a preference for girls, but holy hell i did not intend for her to be _so fucking bi_. She kinda ran away with me on that one.


	55. Age 15: Stolen Part 2

“Nami?”

Nami looked up from adding details to her map, and smiled at Kyla. “Hey, I thought you were in bed.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Kyla shifted her weight from foot to foot, and curled her fingers around the fabric of her night shirt in the spot where her swords hung during the day. Nami set down her pen. If Kyla had come to her instead of going straight up to the crow’s nest to train, then something must be seriously bothering her.

“What’s bugging you?” she asked, getting up and moving over to the couch. Kyla padded across the floor and sat down next to her, one knee pulled up to her chest.

“Ila.” she said quietly, like she was confessing some big sin.

Oh, girl trouble. Nami nodded sympathetically, and put an arm around Kyla’s shoulders. She’d told her youngest nakama about herself and Vivi shortly after they left Yabus, and then of course Chopper had pulled her in to help with The Talk, so Kyla turned to her for relationship advice. Better her than Sanji or Zoro, at least. Or, really, anyone else on the ship. Well, except Usopp, Usopp was actually pretty good at giving romantic advice.

“What about Ila?” Nami prompted after a few long seconds of silence.

“I know we’re gonna be leaving soon, since Robin’s almost done with her poneglyph puzzles, and I wanna take her on a date before we go.” Kyla said, leaning against Nami a little bit. “But Kalani and I never really went on any dates, and I don’t know what to do.” her tone was downright distressed by the end, and she looked up at Nami with wide frightened eyes. “What if I do it wrong?”

Nami sighed, and tugged on one of Kyla’s braids which had slipped free of her headscarf. “The only way to do a date wrong is to do it with someone who doesn’t want it to be a date.” she said firmly. “Ask her if she wants to go on a date, maybe suggest that skating place we saw the other day, and if she says yes, then you just go there with her and have a good time.” Nami smiled, and tucked the braid back under the smooth fabric so it wouldn’t get frizzy overnight. “You got that?”

“Ask her out, then go have fun?” Kyla frowned. “I thought dates were supposed to be, like, fancy dinners and candles and- stuff.”

Nami giggled, and pulled Kyla against her side in a one-armed hug. “That’s for when you’ve known someone a lot longer than a week, and maybe you’re a bit older.” she winked. Kyla blushed and looked at the floor. “Trust me, just go have some fun and she’ll think it’s an amazing date.”

“Okay.” Kyla nodded, and Nami lowered her arm to let the young swordsman go. “Good night, Nami.”

“Good night, Kyla.” Nami smiled, getting up and going back to her desk.

\---

“She said yes!” Kyla yelled, running into the bedroom. A giddy laugh followed right after, and she shrieked as she threw herself on the bed. Nami smiled, and lowered her book.

“Of course she did! Who can say no to a face like that?” she dog-eared her page, set the book down, and crossed to where Kyla was lying beaming on the bed, swords splayed out under the small of her back and arms spread wide across the mattress. For the first time in weeks, Kyla’s smile didn’t fall at the offhand mention of her scars. That was good, she was getting used to them. “When are you meeting her?”

“In, like, an hour?” Kyla shrugged, still grinning like an idiot. “She said she was gonna go home to get ready, then meet me here.”

Oh, if Ila was ‘getting ready’ then Kyla’s everyday clothes just weren’t going to cut it. “What are you going to wear?” she asked, leaning on the foot of the bed.

Kyla frowned, twisting as she sat up so her swords were resting more or less straight out on the bed behind her and her boots weren’t touching the sheets. “Does it matter?”

Nami sighed and shook her head. Really, she shouldn’t have expected fashion awareness from a girl who still dressed like _Zoro_ on a more or less daily basis. Come to think of it, Sanji’s fashion sense wasn’t that great either when you took him out of his suits. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Kyla didn’t see a problem in going on a date in the same clothes she’d been wearing all day. “You want to impress her, right?” she asked rhetorically, moving over to the dresser where Kyla’s clothes were stored. “No quicker way to impress a girl like Ila than to dress up for her.”

“Oh.” Kyla said, and Nami pulled out a few shirts.

“These are good, nice but not fancy.” she said absently, hanging them over her arm. “And if you’re going skating, you’ll want shorts.”

“How come?” Kyla asked, the tell-tale thud of rubber on wood indicating she was swinging her feet.

“You’ve got nice legs.” she answered absently, picking out four pairs of Kyla’s sparse selection of shorts. “If you want to woo Ila, use ‘em.”

“What?” Kyla squeaked, and Nami turned around with a grin.

“I may not know her as well as you do, but Ila seems to have good taste.” she dropped the clothes on the bed, and booped Kyla on the nose. “She’s into you, after all.”

Kyla blushed. “Namiii.” she whined. “I don’t wanna woo her, i just wanna go on a date!”

Nami sighed and shook her head. “Courting, dating, and wooing are all basically the same thing, Kyla.” she smiled, and started laying the clothes she’d picked out on the bed. “At least you’re going out with another girl. Sanji’s just dying to give someone a shovel talk, and that would probably scare off most islanders.”

Kyla groaned, and Nami finished laying the clothes out. “Okay, which ones do you like?” she asked, tapping Kyla on the arm to get her to look.

“Uh, the beri sign tank top is nice.” she said hesitantly. “They’re all so bright, though.”

“Trust me, you look great in bright colours.” Nami smiled reassuringly. Honestly, she should’ve done this years ago, teaching Kyla how to pick out clothes that went well together. “Now, this is a bit long, so you’ll want to avoid the mini shorts.” she frowned at the bright red garment. “Why did I even get you those? Sanji would have a conniption if he saw them.”

Kyla giggled, and put a hand on the fourth pair, dark wash denim with distressed hems. “What about these?”

“Mmm?” Nami frowned, putting the bright tank top over the dark shorts. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Umm, these?” Kyla put a hand on the middle pair, pure white with four shiny buttons instead of a fly.

“Yes.” she nodded. The gold fastenings on the pants matched the gold beri sign on the tank top nicely, and the white denim would draw attention to Kyla’s legs. Gods, she was probably helping her youngest nakama get laid. Of all the things she’d imagined being part of her life when she agreed to join Luffy’s crew, this definitely wasn’t one of them. “Socks.” she clicked her fingers, and turned to her own chest of drawers. “I’ve got a nice pair you can borrow.” she dug around for a moment, and came up with a pair of tall black socks. “Try these on, okay?”

“O-kay?” Kyla frowned, but started taking off her boots.

“Actually, try on the whole outfit.” Nami grinned. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She shut the bedroom door behind herself, and started for the library. They didn’t have any foundation in Kyla’s colour, but black mascara and eyeliner worked on every skin tone.

\---

“No.”

“But _Mooom_.”

“No, Kyla, you are not going out dressed like that. Especially not on a _date_.”

Penzag Ilanit grinned, and leaned against the hull of the Pirate King’s ship. The Straw Hats were so openly protective of their youngest member, it was kinda adorable. Othmar and Jordanes didn’t really bother with concern beyond making sure their crew were able to do their jobs, though she had once seen Othmar beat a man half to death for nearly taking Yuval’s ear off in a fight, so Ila was more of the opinion that the Fux brothers practiced an especially tough version of tough love.

“Come on, Sanji.” a female voice butted in, probably Cat Burglar Nami. “She’s perfectly capable of defending herself. Hell, she’s still wearing that stupid haramaki.”

“If I’m not bringing my swords, I’m not gonna go unarmoured.” Kyla said firmly.

“Atta girl.” said a deeper voice which was, without a doubt, the World’s Greatest Swordsman.

“Come on, Sanji.” Cat Burglar Nami again. “I’ll take second watch and wake you up if she’s not home by midnight.”

“Pleeease?” Kyla begged, and Ila could practically see the wide eyes and pouting lips which had never worked on her own parents.

After a few long seconds, there was a sigh. Then, “Fine, but be sure you walk her home and then come right back to the Sunny.”

“Thank you, Mom!” Kyla cried, and Ila grinned. For a girl who’d taken so many lives, Kyla sure was childish. She moved away from the ship, flowing with the late afternoon dock traffic, and came to a halt behind some crates being unloaded from a merchant ship. Privately owned, judging by the flag.

Kyla walked by a minute later, and Ila slipped up silently behind the shorter girl to get a good look at her outfit. She was still wearing the seastone green bandana around her neck, and the golden yellow haramaki over her hips, but her dark baggy pants had been traded in for eye-catching white shorts which ended not quite halfway down powerfully muscled thighs. There was only an inch or so of bare skin, though, because Kyla had also donned tall black socks. Oh, how Ila was looking forward to peeling those off later. They’d almost gotten to that point yesterday in her treasure room, but Kyla had pulled back and insisted that her family would come looking if she wasn’t home for supper.

Well, tonight they didn’t have to worry about that, so hopefully she’d be seeing every inch of Kyla’s skin and have the chance to enjoy all the darker girl’s delicious scars. But following silently wouldn’t get her anywhere, so she stepped up to just outside of Kyla’s peripheral vision. “I’m guessing your navigator is covering for you?”

Kyla yelped and jumped, her fists flashing dark red as she spun around before fading immediately back to their normal pale colour. “You startled me!” she laughed, pressing a hand to her chest. Her rather exposed chest. The tank top had a scoop neck which would be positively obscene on someone with any more of a bust, and a shiny gold beri sign drew all attention right to Kyla’s non-existent cleavage. Oh, they would be having some fun tonight.

“Is she?” Ila asked again. If Kyla had to be home by midnight, she’d need to keep that in mind.

“Oh, yeah, but only so long as I get back before Mom wakes up, which is at like 5’o’clock.” Kyla huffed. “I’m more than old enough to go out on my own. Hell, I won’t even _be_ alone, I’ve got you!” Kyla finally seemed to realize Ila had changed, and her eyes seemed to stick on the new clothes.

Ila giggled, and decided to save the playful torture for later. “Well, ready to go roller skating?” she asked, keeping her tone light and innocent even as Kyla was so obviously transfixed by her outfit. Pale purple crop top, darker purple skirt which fell to around her knees in soft pleats, and white lace leggings trimmed to end just above her knees. Simple, alluring, and easy as all hell to remove later.

“Yeah.” Kyla said quickly, head snapping up with a grin. “I’ve never been roller skating before, but it sounds like fun.”

“Really?” Ila’s eyebrows went up. “I’ll have to teach you, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ila has less-than-innocent plans for Kyla, and Sanji is still having trouble with the fact that his baby girl is growing up. Nami is the cool big sister, tho.


	56. Age 15: Stolen Part 3

Robin watched from a small table in the crowded food court, sipping on her soda. Ila had been far more intimate about teaching Kyla to skate than was strictly necessary, but they were teenagers on a date, some level of intimacy was to be expected. Kyla had thankfully picked it up much faster than Luffy, and was now gliding around the rink with Ila’s hand in hers for balance. She couldn’t hear their conversation at this distance, and didn’t really care enough to bloom an ear on either of their bodies. They were obviously having fun, and these days it was much rarer to see their youngest nakama smiling and laughing with such unrestrained glee.

The girls left the rink after about an hour, and Robin smiled as they headed for the bar seating at the other end of the food court. Ila was a little handsy helping Kyla onto her tall stool, and as Kyla handed over a few folded bills to pay for dinner Robin decided to bloom an ear under the counter to listen in. Sanji had been so polite when he asked her to covertly chaperone their date, it was the least she could do to make sure Ila wasn’t planning anything _too_ inappropriate with their young swordsman.

“I still can’t believe you’re the only free member of the crew left.” Kyla said, the wheels of her skates rolling as she spurred them against a rung on the stool.

“Well, it’s not like I go around advertising it.” Ila replied casually.

“And you don’t care that your nakama are all dead or in prison?” Kyla frowned.

“Well, they weren’t really my nakama.” Ila shrugged. “More like business partners. I’m just an honorary member of the crew so our allies don’t hesitate to deal with me.”

“That seems kinda mean.”

“Not every crew is as tight as yours.” the islander girl sighed. “I hope Yuval and Ihsan are okay, at least.”

“Ihsan?” Kyla tilted her head slightly, body turning towards Ila in a likely unconscious movement.

“The other chore kid.” Ilsa said, and Kyla nodded in understanding. “She’s just a year older than you and me. Yuval is two years older, we think. But neither of them were adults when the article came out, so maybe they didn’t go to Impel Down.”

“I don’t think the Marines care about age when they’re throwing people in jail.” Kyla said with a surprising amount of bitterness in her voice.

“Whatever.” Ila said quickly, waving her hand in a dismissive manner as their food arrived. “Let’s not ruin our date talking about shit like that.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Kyla picked up one of her french fries. “Your burger looks good.”

“So does your- what’d you get again?” Ila leaned in, placing a hand on Kyla’s knee. Robin reminded herself that Kyla could handle any unwanted attention on her own, and refrained from forcibly separating the two. She'd be letting them walk home on their own, after all. It was healthy for a growing girl to have some secrets from her family.

“Shrimp basket.” Kyla grinned, picking up a formless lump of breading and holding it out. “Want one?”

“Trade you a bite of my burger.” Ila offered, and Robin smiled as she let the ear under the table dissolve. She’d bloom another one if the girls got too close together, but they seemed to be getting along just fine.

\---

“Let’s go this way.” Ila said, and Kyla turned as her date tugged her arm. ‘This way’ was into a park, and Kyla nodded. They’d only kissed a little bit at the rink, since she spent most of the time fighting for her balance, and the park looked like it would have some nice places to sit and make out.

“I like the trees here.” she said absently, looking up at the branches which arched over the path. “They’re just the right size.”

Ila giggled, and Kyla looked down from the roof of leaves to see the islander smiling sweetly at her. “The right size?” Ila asked, smile still playing at her lips.

“Yeah.” Kyla nodded. “On Yabus there were these trees that were so huge you could carve out the trunk and sleep in it if you wanted. It was kinda ridiculous.”

“Starting to see your point.” Ila giggled again. They walked in near silence for a bit after that, wandering more or less aimlessly along the shaded paths as Ila hummed one of the songs which had been playing at the rink.

“Well, well.” an unfamiliar voice said from behind them, and Kyla tensed. “Looks like it’s our lucky night.”

Ila squeaked as a hand landed on her head, and Kyla whirled around with deep red haki coating her fists. There were four men, all armed, and all significantly bigger than her. The one holding Ila in place held a pistol loosely in his other hand, two more were swordsmen, and the final man held a knobbly club. “Let her go.” Kyla said, raising her fists.

“Or you’ll punch us?” one of the swordsmen laughed, his blade flashing pure black in the dim light.

“Or I’ll rip your balls off and ram them down your throat.” she snapped back, striking the gunman’s wrist to make him release Ila.

“Ooh, feisty!” he laughed. Ila skittered behind her, and Kyla armoured as much of her body as she could, keeping her haki strongest in her hands and arms. “Might make up for the dent those scars’ll make in her price.”

Price? Kyla widened her stance, and grabbed the bandana around her neck to pull it up over her hair. Keeping her bangs down was always safer, but displaying the asymmetrical curls was usually enough to put bounty hunters off balance, if not send them running. Few people were willing to risk the Pirate King’s wrath for a measly million beri. Strangely, the gunman smiled when her eyebrows were exposed.

“Lucky night indeed.” one of the swordsman laughed. “Marines’ll pay twice as much for her as ol’ Augie.”

“Ila, run!” Kyla yelled, and lunged for the gunman. Swords and clubs she could dodge, but bullets were a pain in the ass. And once she got his gun she could probably get in close enough to point-blank one of the swordsmen, though either of their swords would be a far cry from any of her own. The pistol was soon in her hand, but one of the swordsmen had rushed past her, heading after Ila.

“Hey!” she yelled, raising the gun and aiming at his lower spine. “Leave her alone!” she pulled the trigger, and the noise was a hell of a lot louder when it was coming from her hand instead of across the deck of a ship. The swordsman fell with a shout of pain and a spray of blood from his shoulder, and Kyla grinned triumphantly. One down, three to g-

There was a sharp pain at the back of her head, and the world abruptly went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to thank “anon” for the comment way back on Chapter 20 which eventually became this monstrosity. As I’m sure we all know, every Straw Hat has a tragic backstory, something that will haunt their nightmares forever. Now it’s Kyla’s turn.


	57. Age 15: Stolen Part 4

Kyla woke slowly, blearily, and was dragged the rest of the way to consciousness with a groan when a beam of sunlight fell on her face. Shit, if the sun was up then so was Sanji, and he’d be so pissed about her not making curfew. Like, Luffy-duty on dishes for a _month_ pissed. Blinking up at the ceiling, Kyla frowned. This wasn’t her room. This wasn’t even the Sunny, but she was definitely on a ship, so where- “ _Shit_!” she sat up, and her head spun with the sudden motion. Right, hard knock to the head, she probably had a concussion.

She kept her eyes closed until the only motion she could sense was a familiar rock of waves tilting the ship gently from side to side, then opened them and looked around. She was in a cell, no doubt about that, but it wasn’t a Marine cell. Which meant she was still on the ship of the idiots who’d jumped her and Ila. Oh shit, _Ila_! “Ila?” she called out tentatively, getting to her feet and wincing as she swayed. Definitely a concussion, but her head was feeling pretty clear so the unsteadiness should fade soon. “Ila?” she called again, leaning on the cell door.

“Your friend’s not here, kid.” said a voice from her left, probably whoever was in the cell next to hers. “They were grumbling about her getting away when they brought you in.”

Kyla sighed, and slumped against the bars. “Thank the gods.”

“How old are you?” the voice asked. It sounded like a guy, one who was at least a few years older than her.

“Fifteen.” she answered, moving to sit against the wall the voice was coming through with her forehead pressed against her knees. Her hands were shaking, her throat tightening, and she felt on the verge of throwing up. She’d been kidnapped again, taken by bounty hunters _again_. Her first solo run-in with somebody after her head in five fucking years, and she lost even faster than she had on Pipesk. What was wrong with her?! She stifled a sob, and curled in on herself tighter. Swordsmen _didn’t cry_.

“Fifteen.” came a voice from the door, and Kyla whipped her head up and around to look. It was the gunman from last night, wearing a smirk that sent uneasy chills over her skin. “You sure that’s right?”

Kyla nodded slowly, left hand curling in the empty loops of her haramaki.

“Well, it’s a damn shame your face is all fucked up. There’s folks’ll pay a pretty penny for a kid like you. Coulda gave my men a nice fat bonus.”

Kyla bristled at the mention of her scar and pulled her face into a scowl, but the man kept talking.

“But guys like Augie’s clientele, they don’t want a lil bitch with a fucked up face, so you’re going to the Marines. They’ll pay more than what you’d fetch at auction looking like this.” he gestured at her vaguely with one hand, and Kyla clenched her fists tighter. She wanted to tear that shitty asshole smirk right off his face, rip his eyes out of their sockets and tears his ears from his head, steal the gun off his belt and blow his fucking brains all over the opposite wall. Most of all, though, she wanted to have Sengo in her hands and use him to carve this bastard into itty bitty pieces, working from his feet up so he’d have to feel every slice.

“Why are you telling me all this?” Kyla asked, managing to keep her tone level if venomous.

“Because.” the man’s smirk split into a sickening grin. “I want to see what you’ll do.”

“You’re not going to put her to sleep?” the voice from the other side of the wall asked, sounding startled and almost indignant.

“ _Nemuri_.” he said, lifting his arm towards the next cell. A purple glow flashed from his palm, followed by the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. Kyla’s stomach turned. She could guard herself against blades and bludgeons and bullets, but she had no defense against a devil fruit power like that.

“You think you want to see what I’ll do?” Kyla asked rhetorically, her voice coming out steadier than she’d expected. The man’s eyes landed on her, and she unclenched her left hand for a moment to let it swing down to her side. Shoulders back, chin up, hands curled into white-knuckled fists at her sides, she met the eyes of her kidnapper without flinching. “You _really_ don’t.”

The man laughed at that, a loud and obnoxious na HEE haw haw haw, and Kyla kept her eyes fixed on him. When he stopped laughing and looked at her again, Kyla let a wide smile spread across her face without reaching her eyes, her eyebrows drawn down to make the expression more menacing.

“I’m going to kill you.” she said, pitching her voice up a bit and making her tone as saccharine sweet as she could. “And you’d better hope my family gets to you first, because otherwise you’re going to be awake for the whole, painful, process.” she stepped forward in the brief pause after each of the last three words, until she was standing just an inch from the bars and grinning up at her captor. He took a step back, and Kyla crossed her arms as she pulled her mouth into a small frown and properly scowled at the bounty hunter. “You can go now.” she said, dropping the affected voice as she tossed her head and arranged her face into what was hopefully a disinterested expression.

The man left without a backwards glance, and Kyla waited until she heard the creak of stairs before falling against the wall of her cell and giggling. She hadn’t thought that would actually work! Her hands had stopped shaking, and she still kinda felt like she was gonna hurl but not really? It was an odd, jittery kind of excitement which had one of her legs bouncing against the floor of her cell, her heel tapping the wood without any particular rhythm. The closest thing she could think of was Sengo singing in her hands during battle, but that was more secondhand elation than whatever this was.

She couldn’t focus enough to meditate, but when eventually the feeling faded Kyla moved to sit on the sorry excuse for a bed she’d woken up on. It was just a wide bench, really, bolted to the floor so it didn’t slide around or flip over in bad weather. A thin blanket with ragged edges was crumpled on the floor nearby, where it must’ve fallen when she got up earlier. She picked it up and pulled it around her shoulders like a cloak. First things first, she had to figure a way out of this cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, devil fruit powers! I love making up new devil fruits, because then I get to come up with all the rules of how they work and what the attack names are and all that good shit. This guy’s fruit is called the Yume-Yume No Mi (dream dream fruit) and _Nemuri_ is Japanese for sleep. Also, holy hell I love writing Kyla threatening people. She’s so much fun!


	58. Age 15: Stolen Part 5

Penzag Ilanit hesitated before turning the final corner, the bag with her dad’s lunch and her own hanging in one hand. If Kyla had gone home with cuts and bruises, the Straw Hats would probably be angry at _her_. She’d run away, after all. Hadn’t even tried to stop Kyla from fighting four slavers without so much as a pocket knife to defend herself. She should’ve stayed, even if only to distract one or two of the men and give Kyla a fighting chance.

The Thousand Sunny was still docked, and Ila walked towards it with all the confidence in her stride that she could muster. The Sniper God and the World’s Greatest Swordsman were standing on either side of the ladder leading up to the deck, the former watching her approach and the latter arguing with Kyla’s mom, Black Leg. Ila still wasn’t quite sure why Mr. Vinsmoke was Mom instead of Dad, Kyla had been a bit vague on that, but that was beside the point.

“Hello.” she said with a small smile, giving a wave of her free hand. Suddenly all three men’s eyes were on her, and she felt a little nervous. “Um, I wanted to ask if Kyla got home okay last night?” she asked, lowering her hand slowly. Before she could blink, there was cold steel pressed against the underside of her chin, the tip of one of Roronoa’s swords scraping against her neck.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice low and flat. Ila dimly registered the other two Straw Hats saying something, but her heart was pounding in her ears too hard for her to hear anything clearly. There was a sword at her throat. The World’s Greatest Swordsman was holding a sword to her throat. If he thought she was the one who hurt Kyla, hurt his _student_ , she was so beyond dead. A flash of fire and black cloth whipped across her field of vision, and Ila gasped in a breath as she stepped back, the sword no longer at her throat. The relief was short-lived, however, because a second later she realized that the blur of motion had been Black Leg Vinsmoke Sanji.

She was so far beyond dead.

“You dropped this.” he said quietly, stooping to pick up the bag with the bento boxes in it. Ila numbly accepted it, and held the handles with both hands. Kyla had complained about her mom’s protectiveness any number of times, and one only had to watch how he looked at his daughter to see how much he cared about her. If he thought she’d hurt Kyla, she probably wasn’t going to walk away from this conversation without thoroughly convincing him of her innocence. “When was the last time you saw Kyla?”

Ila froze. Was this some sort of trick question? Whatever it was, Mr. Vinsmoke was looking at her like he expected an answer. “Last night.” she said when she found her voice again. “We were in the park.”

God Usopp frowned. “Why the park?”

“She was walking me home.” Ila clutched the bag with the lunches tighter. “Is she okay?”

The three Straw Hats exchanged worried looks, and leaden dread crept through Ila’s core. “Kyla never made it back last night.” Usopp said, and Ila’s heart nearly stopped. There had only been one bloody spot on the path when she went back this morning, and some signs of a scuffle, but she hadn’t thought that might’ve been the result of Kyla _losing_. The girl was Roronoa's student, for crying out loud!

“Why did you split up in the park?” Roronoa asked, his sword thankfully now put away and half a shoe print on the side of his head.

“We-” Ila looked down, focusing on Mr. Vinsmoke’s shoes instead of his face. “Ever since the Golden Raiders got arrested, there’ve been more slavers and bounty hunters around. Some of ‘em snuck up on us, and-”

“Slavers?” Vinsmoke said hoarsely. Ila glanced up, and saw that the man had paled considerably, his eyes wide. The other two Straw Hats looked similarly stunned, though of course Roronoa only had one eye wide open.

“I’m sorry.” Ila said quickly, ducking her head again. Kyla’s mom was shaking, probably in rage, and more than anything she didn’t want to be here right now but she had to explain herself if she wanted any chance of getting out of this situation alive. “I should’ve stayed to fight with her, but-”

“It’s okay.” God Usopp said quickly, laying a hand on her shoulder. Ila glanced up, and saw him nod his head towards the Thousand Sunny. Vinsmoke and Roronoa seemed to understand what he meant, because they both started moving purposefully, Kyla’s mom towards the ship and her teacher down the docks. “Ila? Hey, look at me.”

Ila looked at him, though she couldn’t help but notice Mr. Vinsmoke dragging Mr. Roronoa towards the ship at the edge of her vision.

“I need you to tell me everything you can remember about the guys who jumped you. Did you recognize them? Do you know what crew they’re on, or what ship?”

Ila shook her head. “No. Dad doesn’t let me deal with slavers.”

“Did you see which way they took Kyla?”

The memory of the last time she’d seen the flame-scarred pirate girl flashed through Ila’s mind and her eyes started watering. “I ran away.” she sniffled, ducking her head and feeling much smaller than her five foot nine. “She told me to run, and I-” her breath hitched in a sob. “I knew I should’ve stayed to fight but I was so _scared_.”

“Hey, hey.” God Usopp said quietly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay. You’re just a kid, you’re not a fighter. Kyla told you to run because she didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Ila looked up, and saw the sniper smiling a little. “If you hadn’t run away when she told you, we wouldn’t know what happened to either of you.”

Ila sniffled, and God Usopp patted her shoulder. “You didn’t see them take her away, but did you hear them say anything about where they were taking Kyla?”

“Um, one of them mentioned an Old Augie.” Ila said, her voice still shaky but her chest no longer shaking with sobs. Usopp frowned, and she hurried on. “But they said Kyla wouldn’t be worth as much, because of her scars, so they were gonna take her to the Marines for her bounty instead.”

“You’re sure?” the Pirate King’s sniper asked, and Ila nodded.

“They said the Marines would pay twice as much for her as Augie.” she said, recalling the last words she’d heard from Kyla’s kidnappers.

“Thank you, Ila.” God Usopp gave her shoulder another squeeze, then let go and stepped back.

“Will she be okay?” Ila blurted as the sniper reached for the rope ladder to board the Thousand Sunny. He paused, then turned on his heel and walked over to her again, laying both his hands on her shoulders and crouching slightly so they were eye to eye.

“Kyla is going to be just fine.” he grinned, confident and reassuring. “Y’know why? Because she’s the daughter of two of the strongest men in the world, and neither of them will stop until she’s home safe with us.”

Ila managed a small smile back at him, and the long nosed man ruffled her hair slightly before standing back up to his full height. “Hell, by the time we catch up to the bastards she’ll probably have broken herself out and be waiting for us. It’s what happened last time, after all.”

Ila giggled, and as the Thousand Sunny began slowly moving out of port she headed for her father's office, idly wondering why Kyla had never mentioned that Roronoa Zoro was her dad as well as her sensei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sanji probably should have figured out by now that casually kicking one of the two strongest people in the world out of frame _really_ doesn’t make him appear non-threatening. Especially to already-frightened teenagers.


	59. Age 15: Stolen Part 6

Kyla waited until the ship was quiet to set her plan in action. The wall between her cell and the hallway was fairly thin, no more than an inch and a half thick. It was more of a formality than something actually meant for containment, really, which she supposed would make sense if all their prisoners were usually put to sleep with the captain’s devil fruit powers. At least, she was pretty sure he was the captain.

Kyla exhaled, closed her eyes, and built up a nice heavy coat of haki on her fists. Her forearms received a much lighter coating, just enough to keep her from getting splinters, and she brought her fists up to chest level. The first punch resulted in a loud crack of wood, the second a louder one, and the third was followed by the sound of wood falling to the floor. Kyla opened her eyes, and smirked. The wall had practically caved in on itself in just three hits, shoddy workmanship that Franky would probably scoff at. She leaned out into the hallway and took a quick look in each direction. Still empty, thank the gods, with a very promising lack of pounding footsteps overhead.

Kyla stepped out of her cell, and started towards the stairs which lead up to the next level of the ship. An alarming number of the cells she passed had people in them, none shackled, all sleeping soundly on the bench beds with their arms crossed over their chests. It was eerie, and Kyla hurried to get out of there. The stairs lead up into a bunkroom, but after a quick scan with observation haki Kyla figured they were all asleep. The floors were sound, not a creak to be heard as she crept across the room to the door and slipped out onto the deck.

The first thing she noticed was that this ship was easily twice the size of the Sunny, which made sense considering she’d counted twenty hammocks in the bunk room. The second was that there were four rowboats leaning against the railing, one pair just a few feet in front of her and the other much closer to the prow. The third thing she noticed was that there was only one crow’s nest, an open little thing which barely looked big enough for two grown-ups to sit in.

There were pulley things hanging over the rowboats, probably meant to lower them to the water, so if she could get one of those ready to go then she’d have an escape route prepared for when she killed their captain. Sure she wouldn’t be able to make it much of anywhere on her own, but between Sanji and Usopp’s observation haki there was no way they’d miss her. They couldn’t be more than a day behind, either, so she wouldn’t have to worry about getting water for a long wait. But first she’d have to take care of the guy on watch. One of the hammocks near the door had been conspicuously empty, and with a crew this size they’d be stupid not to have somebody on watch at all times. Especially after kidnapping one of the Pirate King’s crew.

Kyla paused in the rigging just below the crow’s nest and looked down at the deck, taking a moment to think. Zoro and Usopp and Nami said sometimes that she needed to think things through better, and this was probably a situation where that applied. Okay, so after she knocked out the guy on watch, she still needed a weapon to kill the captain with. Sure she could just choke him to death, but that was nowhere near bloody enough for her tastes. Sengo would be best, of course, but he was back on the Sunny so she’d have to grab a sword from the bunkroom and make do. And once the captain was dead the crew would be out for her blood, so she’d have to wreck the other boats to keep them from following her.

Okay, knock out the watchman, ready one of the rowboats to escape in, steal a sword, wreck the other three rowboats, kill the captain, get the hell outta here. Simple enough that if anything went wrong, like things tended to do, she could adapt. Kyla grinned and quickly Observed the space above her. The guy on watch was asleep! Oh man, this was gonna be even easier than she’d thought!

Kyla swung up into the crow’s nest to avoid making the hatch squeak, armoured her hands, and fastened them around the watchman’s neck. He was out cold in seconds, maybe dead, but either way he wouldn’t be raising the alarm any time soon. Unfortunately he didn’t have a sword, so she’d have to go back into the bunkroom to find one. The trip back down to the deck was longer than she would’ve liked, and getting the boat ready to drop over the edge took even _longer_ , but finally she snuck back into the bunkroom.

The scattered snores were oddly comforting, much better than the death-like silence of the cells below, and Kyla slipped along the wall with an eye on the posts suspending the hammocks. The first few swords she saw weren’t katana, their blades oddly shaped or the wrong length or both, so she kept moving. Finally, though, she set her eyes on a saya. It was dark, the line which spiralled around it from the mouth down only barely paler in colour, and the hilt which protruded from it looked well cared for even in the dim light. Kyla picked it up carefully, slid it through the top loop of her haramaki, and slunk back along the wall towards the door.

The swordsman grunted, turning in his hammock, and Kyla hurried out onto the deck. The saya was a deep purple in the moonlight, its spiral decoration a vibrant blue which faded out two thirds of the way down, and the sword hilt was an equally brilliant blue. It was beautiful, but the sword knocked against her leg with a foreign cadence as she walked and when she drew the blade something cold twisted in her chest. She had to be quick about this, destroy the rowboats and kill the captain before the swordsman whose katana she was borrowing woke up.

“ _Kiritsukeru_.” she said quietly, launching an air blade at the boat opposite the one she’d readied. It was weaker than she would’ve liked, since the sword in her hand didn’t like her, but it did its job. The rowboat split nearly in two, a jagged wound opening up in its hull, and she hurried towards the other pair. Once those were destroyed, she could find the captain’s hammock in the bunk room and kill him, leave the katana buried in his body and row back along their wake until she was far enough away to just drift and wait for her family.

The third boat’s hull had just splintered when there was a loud crack, and Kyla jumped as a hole appeared in the deck in front of her. Fuck, someone was awake. Well, she’d just have to take them out first before she found and killed the captain.

“Na HEE haw haw haw!”

Oh, well that made her life easier.

“You’re one dumb bitch, you know that?” the captain gloated, his crew spilling out of the door behind him. Kyla didn’t dignify that with a response, simply falling into a defensive stance and pulling dark red armament haki over her exposed skin. After a split second, she coated the blade in her hands as well. Wouldn’t do to have it breaking in the middle of a fight, even if it wasn’t hers.

“Be a good li’l cunt and drop the sword.” one of the crewmen said, twirling a cutlass like he was hot shit.

“Try an’ make me.” Kyla snapped, lifting her borrowed weapon. So long as she could keep her haki up, she would be able to get out of here easily enough.

\---

Kyla grunted as she hit the floor, taking the brunt of the impact on her left shoulder. The door slammed shut, and she pulled herself into a sitting position as her jailer stormed off. They’d cuffed her this time, loose enough that she could get her hands in front of herself fairly easily, but it wasn’t like it mattered much. She’d been thrown in an actual cell, the opposite end of the brig hallway from the stairs, and this one had thick metal bars across the whole face instead of a metal barred door and some flimsy wooden planks. She slid her hands under her legs, getting them in front of herself, and took stock of her injuries.

Her shoulders and upper arms felt like one big bruise, and there was a nasty gash across the back of her right calf where one of the bastards had tried to hamstring her and missed. It was still bleeding, and after a moment of hesitation she untucked her tank top from her haramaki. A touch of haki helped immensely in making the first tear, and soon she had a nice wide strip of blue fabric in her hands. Another few rips turned it into three strips, which she tied together and wound around her leg as best she could. As bandages went it was clumsy and probably not all that clean, but it was tight and absorbing at least a little of the blood so that was good.

“You injured nine of my men in that fight.”

Kyla looked up at the bounty hunter captain, and glared. “Good.” she sneered, getting to her feet. Her right leg hurt, but she was pretty sure she could fight on worse.

“And killed the man on watch.”

Kyla laughed dryly, the hehihihi sound bouncing off the walls of her cell in a dull, quiet echo. “Pity it wasn’t you.” she grinned, making sure to show as many teeth as she could. “I could’ve had even more fun than I did with your men.” he looked at her impassively, and Kyla pulled herself up straight, squaring her shoulders. She really hated playing this card, and it was kinda what had gotten her kidnapped in the first place, but maybe this guy had grown a brain now after seeing what she could do with a single borrowed sword. “I would say I wish I’d killed more of them, but I don’t.” she smirked. “Can you guess why?”

“No.” he said, tone flat. “Enlighten me.”

“Because if I’d killed any more of your men, my family would have even less targets to take their anger out on.” she let herself grin, sharp and menacing. “You remember who they are, right? My captain is the Pirate King, the man who challenged Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marineford ten years ago and has only been getting stronger since. My sensei is the World’s Greatest Swordsman, the man who defeated Hawk Eyes Mihawk an-”

“He must be so disappointed.” the captain interrupted, and Kyla scowled at him. Really, she and her family were pirates and even _they_ knew better than to interrupt somebody in the middle of a threat. He had no damn excuse.

“Excuse me?” she wrinkled her nose.

“Roronoa.” the captain smirked. “I thought the student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman would be above average, but you’re not even that if you went down so easily. You must be quite the disappointment.”

Kyla gritted her teeth and didn’t bother trying to hide the snarl that built in the back of her throat, letting it seep into her words. “I will tear your eyes from their sockets and rend your limbs from your body.” haki flashed over her hands, so black it caught the colours of her clothing and seemed to tint blue and gold in the dim lamplight.

“Oh will you?” the captain sneered back, pulling a key from his belt and sticking it in the lock of her cell door. “Tell you what.” there was a click, and the door swung open into her cell. “I’ll let you try right now.”

Kyla roared and flung herself at him, cuffed fists flying for his face. He caught both in one hand, and she didn’t even have time to make a sound as he flung her into the bars.

“I think, little bitches like you need to be taught a lesson.” he grabbed her hair before she could get back to her feet, and Kyla cried out as he pulled her up by the braids. She bit back a whimper as she was slammed face first into the bench bed, and blinked hard against tears of pain which sprang to her eyes. Swordsmen didn’t cry.

There was the ring of a blade being drawn, a dagger judging by the length of the sound, and Kyla’s blood ran cold. Was he going to hamstring her? Fully _remove_ one of her limbs? Her bounty poster only specified alive, not in one piece.

“ _Kanashibari_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned that I really love writing Kyla’s threats? Because I _love_ writing Kyla’s threats. Next week, pain!


	60. Age 15: Stolen Part 7

Kyla finally managed to take a deep breath, and tried to turn onto her side. The movement dumped her off the bench, her shoulder and hip striking the floor with near-simultaneous dull thuds, and she couldn’t suppress a whimper as she curled her knees to her chest. Her haramaki was still sitting around her hips, restricting the movement of her legs like a particularly heavy pencil skirt, but pulling it up sounded like a spectacularly bad idea right now. Her breath caught in her throat, and she choked on a sob as fresh tears streamed down her face. He’d seen her crying. He'd made her cry, and then he'd _laughed_ at her. At the stupid, disappointing, _weak_ little girl who pretended to be a swordsman worthy of being the student of the World’s Greatest.

She pulled her legs closer to her chest, and gasped as the motion made her barely-scabbed cuts reopen. Her entire lower back felt like fire it was on fire, no, worse than on fire; it felt like her skin _was_ fire, molten flame poured over her muscle and bone, igniting her every nerve where that bastard’s knife had carved into her. It _hurt_. It hurt worse than dislocating her shoulder, worse than her scar from that one mastery test with Little Zoro, worse than the flames of her own rage searing the colour out of her skin. It took a long time for Kyla to get her breath to stop hitching with almost-sobs, but even when she managed to push herself up into a sitting position without whimpering in pain she couldn’t stop the tears which were streaming down her face, or the river of snot dripping from her nose.

She gently pressed a hand to her cuts, and hissed at the pain of the contact. Nope, not pulling her haramaki up over that. She felt naked without the thick warm band settled atop her hips, a feeling not at all helped by the fact that her only other clothing was a pair of shorts and a tank top turned crop-top, but her new wounds still felt like fire when touched and her fingertips had come away red with blood so she was definitely not putting her haramaki back on for a while. Once she’d shimmied her armour off, Kyla crossed her legs and sat up straight so there wasn’t any pull on the muscles in her lower back.

She had to get out of this mess on her own. If Zoro was somehow in a situation like this, he would’ve already gotten himself out of his cell and beaten up all the bounty hunters on the ship. More than that, though, she had promised to kill the captain of this ship, and after whatever he’d done to temporarily paralyze her she was even more determined to follow through on that threat. At the very least she could take that much revenge. Actually, why stop with the captain? Her family would probably end this entire miserable crew anyways, and Sengo would- not have the chance to be happy about a good battle, because he was back home on the Sunny. Dammit! If she had her fucking swords she wouldn’t _be_ in this situation. 

“So, have you learnt your lesson?”

Kyla looked up at the approaching bounty hunter, and her face pulled into a scowl reflexively. She was hurting, sure, but if he wanted to break her spirit, he’d have to try a lot harder. “I’m still going to kill you.” she said, and her voice came out thankfully not tear-choked. She looked like a mess, but at least she didn’t sound like one. “My family will probably save you for me, even.” she managed a smile, tight and vicious, but this time the captain didn’t even flinch.

“You won’t be seeing your crew again except from an execution platform.” he sneered. “We’ve called ahead, and the Marines will be taking you straight to Impel Down.”

Kyla giggled, the hehihihi scraping in her throat and coming out rough, unstable, broken. It was the same type of giddy not-funny laughter which had overcome her earlier. Gods, had it only been this morning? It felt like so much longer. “You really think you’re going to reach the Marines?” she smiled again, wider, and locked eyes with the bounty hunter. “You’re trying to outwit the best navigator in the world, at the helm of the greatest ship to ever sail the eight seas.” another laugh bubbled out of her, harsh and humourless. “This sad excuse for a ship will never see land on the horizon. The Pirate King and his crew will sink it long before that.”

“Do you want to be put under?” the captain threatened, and Kyla threw her head back to laugh loudly before snapping it down to grin wide at her captor.

“No matter what you do, the Pirate King is coming for me.” she rose to her feet as smoothly as she could with her hands cuffed, haramaki falling off her lap onto the floor. “My _family_ is coming for me, and one way or another you are _going_ to die.”

“Well then.” the captain held his hands in front of his chest, palms facing each other with at least a foot of space between them. His hands started glowing with purple light, and Kyla leaned back slightly. That couldn’t be good.

The light intensified, and she couldn’t tear her eyes from it as it began to take shape. She had to look away for a second when the light became so bright it hurt to look at, but when she looked back there was a small oddly shaped thing hovering between the bounty hunter’s hands. It had a body like a tube sock, though the fabric appeared to be more like something you’d expect on a pillowcase, with a dull pinkish-purple ribbon of the same texture tied around where its waist should be. Its neck was long and droopy, its head turned down and face hidden by long matted pink hair. Most eye-catching, however, was the star-speckled darkness which seeped out from under its dress, like it was filled with the night sky. If the bounty hunter wasn’t smiling, she probably would’ve thought it looked cool.

“ _Akumu_ here will keep you company until we can hand you over to the Marines.” he smirked, and Kyla took a step back as the doll thing drifted forward towards her, _through_ the bars of the cell. Two dark ribbons of night sky unfolded from the nape of its neck, and curled forward to hold a ball of dim purple light.

“Sweet dreams.” the bounty hunter laughed, and Kyla gasped as a blast rocked the ship, the doll’s ball of purple light flying over her left shoulder and dissipating against the wall.

“Hey, jerkfaces! Give Kyla back!”

Kyla grinned, and stepped towards the bars of her cell. “That would be the Pirate King.” she said sweetly, smiling to match her tone. “I expect one of them will be-” the ceiling collapsed with a crash before she could get out ‘here shortly’, and Sanji dropped down into the hall of flimsy cells with fire flickering over his whole body. “There he is.” she giggled, giving her mom a quick wave. He smiled at her briefly, and it seemed like no time at all later that her feet were back on the Sunny’s grass deck, Nami’s arms tight around her and her swords back on her hip.

“Glad that nightmare’s over.” Franky laughed. “You had us worried, vanishing like that.”

Kyla grinned sheepishly, and her cyborg big bro used one of his extendable hands to pat her on the head. After that, the day seemed to pass in a blur, and the next few, and before she knew it a whole week had passed. But the longer she was home, the more she felt like something was off. There was a quiet swishing noise which she heard at night that Chopper said was probably her imagination, after a brief ear exam. Sometimes she would randomly try to breathe and fail to, making her look like a total moron as she appeared to choke on air.

And then, one day, she woke up back in the cell on the bounty hunters’ ship. The strange and deceptively heavy doll was sitting on her chest, its weight pressing down on her ribcage and its sky-ribbon arms swishing along the floor like a metronome as it swayed from side to side. From this angle she could see its face, bulging glass eyes which looked far too alive and a jagged-toothed smile clumsily stitched on in crimson red thread.

She tried to move, to push it off and hurl it against the wall of cell bars, but her limbs were locked in place. She was trapped, unable even to tremble as her already shallow breathing sped up. She couldn’t move, couldn’t _breathe_ , and the doll was beginning to glow with purple energy again. Tears started streaming from her eyes, and she couldn’t even blink to stop them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember Inception? That’s how realistic the dreams are that this thing creates. The nightmare doll is based on [this Froslass variant](http://41.media.tumblr.com/1e4735f91be4cea3505e0dc151e9d8cf/tumblr_nrciw2qNBr1ra0sk1o3_1280.jpg) drawn by [purple-scales](http://purple-scales.tumblr.com/post/123841866399) on tumblr. Imagine waking up with one of those on your chest. _Akumu_ is Japanese for nightmare, and _Kanashibari_ is sleep paralysis. If you aren’t familiar with the term, I highly recommend looking it up. It’s a fascinating subject.


	61. Age 15: Stolen Part 8

Kyla gasped awake, her lungs barely functioning, and tried to curl her hand into a fist. No response, still. Her breath started to speed up, and she struggled to keep her thoughts on one track as her head spun from lack of oxygen. Injuries, she had to know how bad her injuries were. Her lower back felt like fire still, the back of her leg hurt, and her right palm was wet around the area where she’d managed to curl her nails through her skin hard enough to bleed last time she woke up.

It was still bleeding, that was good. Well, not _good_ , but it meant she hadn’t been under long, even though it had felt like weeks and weeks. It had taken until her mastery test to realize it this time, when Zoro’s blade cut into her arm and it didn’t bleed right. The doll began to glow with purple energy again, and Kyla fleetingly hoped that this one wouldn’t be another false rescue. She wasn’t sure how many more of those she could take.

\---

The ship shook, and she could hear indistinct yelling from the deck. Kyla tried to keep her breathing slow and even, since that seemed to confuse the doll bobbling on her chest and give her more time to try to wake herself up. The fact that it hadn’t tried to plunge her back under yet, combined with the lack of blood on her palm, meant she was still asleep. She just had to-

The doll warped, its jagged mouth opening wider, and then it did something new. It leaned down towards her, and Kyla felt a cold sensation as it sank into her chest, the weight becoming heavier than ever as the dim light in the hall went out, leaving only weak echoes of moonlight to illuminate the cell. The newly deepened shadows first shimmered at the edges of her vision, then began to warp before her eyes, twisting into the wicked mockeries of her family which had haunted her nightmares since that night on Yabus, but as her heart thundered in her chest she realized one was missing. The most painful one, the one who never stopped them from sending her overboard like he’d promised he would.

Thundering footsteps rang on the ceiling above, and if she could’ve moved Kyla would have been shaking like a leaf. This was one of the really, _really_ bad ones, and she couldn’t wake herself up, couldn’t even shake the doll free of her chest and try to defend herself.

The shadowy forms stood around her, looming, and Kyla needed to scream as the footsteps pounded down the stairs, a familiar voice yelling her name not in fear but in _anger_. She’d taken them off course, wasted their time, gotten herself kidnapped because she was just a stupid useless _weak_ excuse for a pirate. The cell brightened with flickering flames for an instant before the door slammed open, and Kyla couldn’t help the tears which streamed down her face. Then she actually saw him, saw the flames dancing on his skin and the _hate_ in his eyes and every muscle in her body strained to get _away_.

“ **Kyla**.” he snarled, leaning over her with one hand reaching out, reaching for her throat, and suddenly she could move.

“ _No_!” she screamed, lashing out as she spun to her feet. Her knuckles cracked across his jaw, and she felt the warm of dying flames on the back of her hand even as she leapt backwards between the mockeries of her family, her feet finding purchase on the bench bed with her shoulders nearly pressed to the corner walls. Her chest heaved with near silent sobs, and as the last flicker of flame vanished the only sound in the room was her fucked up breathing. Juddery, uneven, not as much air as she’d need to fight her family. No, just her mom, the others had vanished along with the flames.

“Eggplant?” he said quietly, eyes wide and concerned.

“I- I don’t-” Kyla choked on a sob, and just like that Sanji’s arms were around her, pulling her down to sit on the wide bench. He tucked her head against his shoulder, and Kyla wondered why she’d thought her mom would ever try to hurt her.

“It’s okay.” Sanji murmured, running a hand gently over her frazzled braids. “It’s okay, I’m here now. I’ve got you.”

Kyla curled against him, and they stayed like that until the sounds of fighting above them suddenly ceased.

“Let’s get you home, Eggplant.” Sanji said quietly, and he pulled away to give her a reassuring smile. Kyla’s legs shook when she stood on them but they did hold her. She could do this, she was strong enough to walk on her own. Pain shot through her leg with the first step, her clumsily bandaged cut protesting, and Sanji thankfully missed the her wincing since he was stooping to pick up her haramaki. She made it to the doorway before he spoke again.

“You probably shouldn’t be putting weight on that leg.” he said, and Kyla didn’t struggle as she was lifted off her feet in a princess carry. “Don’t worry, Chopper will fix you right up.” Sanji smiled, but Kyla could tell it was forced. He was still angry, so close to bursting into flames she could feel the heat radiating from his skin, but none of that anger had been in his voice. Was he really not angry at her, even though she’d been defeated so easily not once but twice? Even though she’d punched him hard enough that it was already starting to bruise?

“I’ll have to get Franky to come down here and pull the rest of these poor bastards out.” he mused as they started up the stairs. “Wouldn’t be right to leave them locked up without a crew left to feed them.”

Kyla grinned, and pressed her face against Sanji’s jacket as they passed through the bunk room. This felt _real_. The Sanji in her nightmares had never shown any worry about the other prisoners, nor had he carried her out onto the deck to keep her from making her injuries worse. In her dreams they’d always just wound up on the Sunny, skipping the stench of blood and char and death on the deck of this ship.

“I can stand.” she said quietly, but Sanji hesitated before putting her down. Once her feet were on the deck, Kyla did her best not to limp as she headed for the bounty hunter with the devil fruit. He was splayed on the deck, groaning weakly, and Kyla scooped up a random sword as she approached him. Her whole family could see the word he’d carved into her skin, the blocky capital letters which she almost hoped would scar. It wasn’t like she ever planned on _not_ being a pirate, after all.

“Fuck you.” he spat as she came to a stop standing over him, sword heavy in her loose grip.

“You’re lucky my family already got to you, or this would be a lot more painful.” Kyla said quietly, lifting the sword and flashing clear armament haki over its blade. He made a pitiful sound as she stabbed it into his gut, severing his spine, and his eyes widened when she lifted it again. Another two stabs perforated his lungs, and Kyla dropped the sword next to him. She managed to school her face into neutrality before turning around, but only took two steps before the cut on her leg flared up and suddenly Robin was at her side, the smell of sakura blossoms strong enough to momentarily block out the stench of a battlefield.

“Sanji, you said something about there being other prisoners?” the archaeologist asked, placing one of her arms behind Kyla’s back for support. “Perhaps you and Zoro could remove them from their cells. Many of them should be waking soon.”

“Good idea, Robin.” Nami nodded once. “Franky, you go with them, make sure they don’t hurt anyone.”

“Got it, Sis.” Franky gave a thumbs up, but Sanji moved towards Kyla instead of with Zoro and Franky.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” he gave her a quick hug, and Kyla managed a smile.

“I’ll be fine without you for a few minutes, Mom.” she said as he pulled away.

Sanji sighed, and ran a hand over her head. “I know.”

\---

Kyla sat bolt upright, a scream caught in her throat. The twinge of her anaesthetised injuries forced her to focus, and she slowly lowered Sengo to her lap. She wasn’t dreaming anymore, she was in the Sunny’s infirmary not on the floor of a cell. But then why was she still having trouble breathing? Her heart was racing, and she couldn’t manage to take a deep enough breath to bother counting out her inhale and exhale, and- and her hands were shaking. Just like on Yabus, only this time over something even stupider than her eyebrows.

Without being able to slow her breaths she wouldn’t be able to focus, but if she went and trained then she’d have to start breathing normally again. And her swords had helped so much during those long months stuck in that Marine school, maybe they’d help again now. Unwrapping her headscarf was easy enough, as was hanging her swords from her haramaki, but her hands were shaking so badly that it took a solid minute to get Sengo back in his saya. By the time she’d reached the crow’s nest the shaking had diminished to being only in her hands, and she could manage almost normal breaths. If she turned around now she’d probably be able to meditate and get back to sleep, but she was already up here so she may as well do a bit of training.

The trapdoor opened easily, and Zoro’s eyes focused on her for just a second before he went back to looking out the window, absently doing curls with one arm. The hatch slipped out of her trembling fingers, and they both jumped at the loud sound it made when it fell shut. Zoro looked at her again, and Kyla hoped he couldn’t tell how fast her heart was still racing. “My bad.” she said with a weak smile.

Zoro frowned, and she quickly looked away, left hand falling on the hilt of her first sword. She gripped it tight to hide the trembling, and Zoro sighed. He was disappointed in her, wasn’t he? She’d gotten herself captured by enemies she should’ve been able to defeat, incompetent buffoons that any worthy student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman should be able to dispatch without breaking a sweat.

“C’mere.”

Kyla’s head jerked up, and she saw Zoro patting the window seat next to him. She crossed over to him, trying not to visibly favour her injured leg too much, and when she sat down Zoro draped a dry towel around her shoulders. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, frowning in that way which meant he was either angry or concerned. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

“Of course.” Kyla said quickly, pressing her hands against the seat cushion to keep them from shaking. “Soon as my leg’s better, I’ll be just fine.” she attempted a smile, but Zoro apparently wasn’t fooled.

“You’re shaking.” he reached out, but stopped before putting a hand on her shoulder. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing.” she stood up, and was a bit surprised when Zoro didn’t try to stop her.

“It’s obviously not nothing if you’re having a panic attack over it.” he said sternly, and Kyla stopped.

“Panic attack?” she asked, turning to face him.

Zoro nodded and stood, walking over to the bench which still had a few candles in it, though she hadn’t had to use them in years. “It’ll pass on its own, but-” he sighed and lit a candle, setting it on the floor and sitting cross legged in front of it. Kyla sat across from him, and fixed her eyes on the flame. “Breathing exercises can help.”

“I can’t.” she said quietly after a minute, gripping the towel around her shoulders to pull it tighter. The shaking had gotten worse again, and Zoro opened his eye to fix her with a stare she couldn’t read.

“Try this.” he inhaled for a few seconds, stopped, then exhaled, and stopped again before inhaling. “In through your nose for four seconds, hold your breath for four, out through your mouth for four, hold for four again.”

Kyla did it, and after a few minutes her heart had stopped trying to beat its way out of her chest.

“Better?” Zoro asked, his voice low and quiet.

Kyla nodded, and he smiled. “Good. It’s been a while since I had to help someone through one of those.” he reached over the candle and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Do you want me to tell Chopper?”

Kyla quickly shook her head. “It’s stupid.” she muttered. “Just-”

“Just nothing.” Zoro interrupted her, his tone the one that meant she wasn’t allowed to argue. But the stern frown faded from his face almost immediately, and the next time he spoke his voice was soft again. “Is this the first time it’s happened?”

Kyla shook her head again. “It happened a lot on Yabus, but not as bad.”

Zoro frowned, and moved around the candle to sit next to her. “Do you think the same thing that happened on Yabus happened tonight?” he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders over the towel.

That managed to startle a laugh out of her, and Kyla shook her head. “No, it was even dumber.”

Zoro didn’t say anything, so she continued. “I mean, what kind of swordsman gets so scared of a bad dream they can’t go back to sleep after?” she chuckled mirthlessly, and Zoro pulled her into a one-armed hug. “I mean, I’m supposed to be brave and strong enough to protect my nakama, but I couldn’t even protect myself and-”

“It’s okay.” Zoro said quietly, cutting her off before her voice could break in a sob. “You’re the bravest kid I know, Kyla.” he tightened his arm around her shoulders briefly, squishing her against his chest. “And this, having a panic attack? Doesn’t change that fact. It doesn’t change anything.”

“But-”

“But nothing.” Zoro said firmly, pulling away and fixing her with his single steel-grey eye. “You can’t be brave unless you’re scared first. So as long as you don’t let this stop you, you’re the bravest girl I know.”

“Braver than Nami?” she asked, her voice coming out very small.

Zoro nodded once. “Braver than Nami. That witch isn’t scared of anything but bugs.”

Kyla giggled, and when Zoro stood up she blew out the candle and followed suite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy hell, that went by fast. Just got a couple of chapters left before this story is over.
> 
> Feel free to guess which of the other Straw Hats have had anxiety attacks. I’ll tell you right now, Zoro and Nami aren’t on the list.


	62. Age 17: Departure

“Happy birthday, Eggplant.”

Kyla smiled at Sanji, and her eyes landed on the small pile of presents on the peninsula. She didn’t like to shake them the way Luffy did, but it was kinda fun to guess which presents came from who, even if she wasn’t particularly good at it. Two shiny black wooden boxes sat on top of each other, the one on top much smaller than the one underneath, and she’d hazard a guess that those were from Franky and Robin. The bigger one looked large enough to hold a few books, and her big sister had a knack for finding things she actually would take the time to read. Next to those two was one clumsily wrapped with newspaper, though the wrappings were more tape than paper. That was from Luffy, for sure.

The other three were also wrapped in newspaper, but much more neatly. One was a smallish box, the other two were lumpy shapes, one significantly larger than the other. Kyla had a pretty good idea what was in the larger lumpy package, since she’d seen the bag under Chopper’s desk last week when he was patching her up after a fight, but frowned slightly as she walked over to the counter. No, nothing was hiding behind Chopper’s present. There were only six presents. Nami almost always took her clothes shopping, so that accounted for one, and there had been a few times where Zoro’s present wasn’t in the stack either, but that still meant there was one missing.

“Don’t worry about the missing gifts.” Sanji grinned like he knew something she didn’t. He probably did, honestly. “How are you feeling?”

“Good.” she grinned, getting a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water. “My head hurt when I woke up, but it’s better now.”

Sanji chuckled, and pulled her in for a brief hug. “At least you didn’t let that mosshead give you too much to drink last night.”

“I don’t understand why Zoro and Nami like that shit so much.” Kyla pulled a face, and Sanji laughed before pressing a kiss to her temple.

“It’s an acquired taste.”

Kyla decided not to mention that she had no intention of acquiring a taste for something that made her unable to fight to her full potential. It didn’t matter that they were in the first half of the Grand Line now, she still wasn’t comfortable having her guard down. She was a swordsman, and even if she was the weakest of her family it was still her duty to be ready to protect them when needed.

Breakfast passed quickly, and Sanji filled both sinks with water but didn’t start washing yet. Kyla looked at the small pile of presents, and picked up the smaller of the odd-shaped ones. It was fairly well wrapped, maybe from Usopp? She pulled the papers off, and tilted her head at the tone dial. There was a letter attached to the bottom, signed in Brook’s weird curling handwriting. “A recording?” she smiled at her oldest nakama.

“Ooh, play it!” Luffy beamed, arm stretching across the countertop to bop the tone dial’s uppermost swirl. It clicked, and a mess of laughter and chatter poured out of the fine perforations in the shell. Then the sound quieted and was overlaid with Brook playing the violin, soon joined by Luffy and Zoro singing. This was from last night, Kyla realized, a smile spreading across her face.

“Thanks, Brook!” she smiled wider, giving the skeleton a quick hug. She tucked the letter in her haramaki, set the tone dial on the counter, and grabbed another gift. The larger of the black wooden boxes was much lighter, which ruled out it being full of books, and when she opened it she looked up at her family with a small frown.

“Shit, did it escape?” Usopp muttered, and Zoro knocked him on the back of the head.

“It’s for your swordcare supplies.” her sensei said. Kyla nodded, and closed the box back up. Right now her things were just sitting under her shinai in the crow’s nest, so this was a really good thing.

“Thanks. I’ll put them in here later.”

“Here.” Usopp handed her the nicely wrapped square package, and Kyla pulled the paper away to reveal two books of hairstyles.

“I saw them a few islands ago.” Robin smiled kindly. “You must be getting tired of wearing the same types of braids all the time.”

Kyla lifted a hand to her hair, currently loose, and her smile widened. “I never really thought about it. Thanks, Robin.”

“Mine next!” Chopper blurted, handing over the clumsily wrapped bag of candy.

Kyla giggled, and pulled the wrappings off. The entire thing was full of cinnamon hard candies, easily two pounds of them in a small assortment of shapes. She could probably make this last for half a year, if she wanted. That left only two others, and Brook bopped the tone dial to stop it as she picked up the smaller wooden box. Luffy’s presents tended to be things she wanted to try out immediately, so best to leave his for last. The black lid lifted off easily, and Kyla gasped.

“You should never have to be without a weapon.” Sanji said quietly as she lifted the knife out into her hands. The hilt was smooth shiny wood, darker than most of the wood on the Sunny, and the sheath was a narrow thing of black leather embossed with lines of geometric spirals. Kyla pulled the blade free, and her eyes widened. The metal had no temper line, but was instead covered almost entirely in tight, uneven waves. It was beautiful, too small for a flame of its own but perfectly balanced in her hand.

“C’mon, open mine!” Luffy said loudly, and Kyla jerked back as her captain’s terribly wrapped present was shoved in her face by a stretchy arm.

She took it, and set it down next to the knife’s box as she carefully re-sheathed the blade. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Go on, open Luffy’s.” Sanji grinned, putting an arm around her shoulders. Kyla placed her knife back in its box, and set to pulling Luffy’s idea of wrapping paper apart. The mess of tape and jagged bits of newsprint covered a small box, a red-stained wooden thing with a little golden flip latch on the front. Maybe it was new earrings? But that seemed more thoughtful than Luffy’s usual gifts. She opened the lid, and pulled out the only thing in the box. For a second she stared blankly at the scrap of paper, and then it began to twitch in her grip, leaning towards Luffy.

“Part of your vivre card?” she looked at her captain, frowning slightly. The only people who had bits of Luffy’s vivre card were his brother Sabo and their allies. Her family might’ve each taken a bit when they split up to handle Germa’s threat to the Grand Fleet, but she wasn’t sure about that.

“Mmhmm.” Luffy nodded, grinning like an idiot. Or, well, like Luffy.

“C’mon, you gotta see my gift!” Franky said quickly.

“Mine too!” Usopp added, grabbing her by the elbow as soon as she’d put Luffy’s vivre card back in its box.

“And I still have to take you out shopping.” Nami smiled, placing a hand on her other arm. Sanji removed his arm from around her shoulders.

“It’s a bit big, so Usopp-bro and I had to build it ‘round the island a bit.” Franky said as Nami and Usopp lead her out onto the deck, all of her gifts still lying on the kitchen counter.

“If it’s that big, how am I supposed to keep it on the Sunny?” she asked as she followed her family down the ladder. Usopp and Franky grinned at each other, and Kyla yelped when Nami grabbed her bandana and suddenly she couldn’t see anything but seastone green fabric printed with black and white rope.

“No playing 20 questions.” Nami said mock-sternly, and Kyla sighed as she started after her family. Now was as good a time as any to practice her observation haki, she supposed.

\---

“Okay, you can look now.” Usopp said from above and ahead of her, and Kyla pulled down her bandana to sit folded up around her neck. She could fold it back out later, after she saw just what-

Oh.

“Is this-” she said quietly, looking to Franky for confirmation. He couldn’t be serious, right? This was just a shell around whatever he’d actually made her as a present. She could entirely believe that, but at the same time...

“Yep.” Franky beamed, and Kyla thought her heart might’ve stopped beating for a second there. She looked back at her present and reached out, but paused just before touching the wood and turned to look at Franky again.

“Can I?”

“Of course! She’s yours, after all.” the cyborg nodded firmly.

Kyla faced forward again, and pressed her palm to the hull. A ship. A whole entire ship. She’d never quite believed her family when they said that Franky built the Sunny in a single day, even having seen the speed with which her big bro could build things, but they’d only been on this island for a bit over a day. This was even better than when Zoro had placed Hibiki in her hand, better than when Mom had brought her home from Yabus, almost better than the day he’d saved her on Soreth.

“It’s just missing one thing.” Franky’s joints whirred softly as he reached out to rap large metal knuckles on the ship. “A name.”

Kyla looked up at the vessel, taking it all in. The unmarked sails and untouched rigging, the smooth white railing which faded and rolled into blue waves at the prow, the open-mouthed shark which rose from those waves as a figurehead. Suddenly the piece of Luffy’s vivre card made perfect sense. He wanted her to be able to come home, if she wanted to. Her fingers curled against the wood, and a smile split her face. “Dancer.”

“Dancer’s a good name.” Franky said with a grin. “Almost as super as Sunny.”

“Thank you.” she blurted, whirling to throw her arms around Franky’s stomach.

“Hey, I helped with the blueprints.” Usopp called from the deck of the new ship- her ship- his tone one of exaggerated petulance. _Her_ ship, that would take some getting used to. Gods, she’d barely stopped smiling since breakfast.

Kyla grinned up at him. “Then throw down the ladder so I can get up there!”

Less than a minute later she was on deck, grass short and bright and _new_ under her feet, and Usopp laughed as she gave him a hug.

“Thank you.” she beamed when she pulled away, turning to look at her ship. _Her_ ship. It would be a while before that stopped making her giddy with happiness.

“Well, this is more Franky’s gift than mine, really.” Usopp said modestly. “My gift is in the all-purpose room.” he gestured vaguely towards the back of the ship.

“All purpose room?” Kyla cocked her head.

“Yeah, c’mon, I’ll show you and then Franky can give you the grand tour after Nami takes you shopping.” Usopp paused, then went to lean over the railing. “Hey, Franky! You’re gonna show Kyla around the ship later, right?”

“Of course!” the cyborg called back, audibly indignant.

Kyla headed towards the stern, up the stairs to the second level of the deck. There was a structure which was just a few feet taller than the rearmost level of the deck, like a single room standing on its own, and Usopp followed a few steps behind. She reached for the doorknob, but Usopp put a hand on the door before she could pull it open.

“I’m gonna need you to promise something.” he said quietly. “Don’t tell Sanji about my present.”

“It’s not part of the ship?” Kyla grinned, pulling the door open.

“No, it’s that.” Usopp inclined his head towards a corner of the room, and Kyla clapped her hands over her mouth to muffle her excited squeak. The sound was loud enough to wake the little pale orange cat, however, and Kyla crouched as it got up and trotted over to her. It sniffed her hands, and didn’t struggle in the slightest when Usopp scooped it up.

“Franky and I were going to make your ship a joint present, but I saw this lil guy for sale yesterday and thought, hey, just because half our nakama are allergic doesn’t mean yours will be.” he grinned, and held the cat out to her. Kyla accepted the warm ball of fluff, and cradled it close to her chest so she wouldn’t drop it.

“It’s so fluffy.” she said, no other words coming to mind. Holy shit, she was holding a real live kitten. It mewed, and pressed its head against her arm.

“Every ship should have a cat.” Usopp said proudly. “But Sanji just plain hates ‘em for some stupid reason, so don’t tell him, okay?”

“Okay.” Kyla grinned, petting the kitten’s head gently. It purred, and her chest felt almost painfully full of something bright and warm.

“You like him?” Usopp asked, and Kyla nodded, running her finger over the ragged stump of his left ear.

“What happened to this?” she asked, looking up from the cat- _her_ cat, holy shit- at Usopp.

The sniper shrugged. “Seller didn’t say. I think it was an older cat, though.” Usopp ran a finger over the tiny scar, and the kitten mewed again. “Here, I’ll put him back in his bed. Nami still has to take you shopping, remember?” he inclined his head towards the door. “She just got back with the cart.”

“Right.” Kyla pulled a face, and let Usopp lift the kitten from her arms. Shopping with Nami was, well, an experience. One she’d never really gotten used to. What was the point of having so many clothes she’d never wear? She liked her loose pants and sleeveless shirts, they were practical for all kinds of weather, and it wasn’t like she’d outgrown the stuff she already had. And if Nami had turned around to get the _cart_ , it meant she was going to spend most of her seventeenth birthday walking around shopping.

“Oh, and Kyla?”

She turned around, one hand on the doorknob, and Usopp grinned at her. “Happy birthday.”

\---

“Promise me, Kyla.” Sanji said firmly, his visible eye locked with hers.

Kyla nodded, smile slipping from her face, and stepped in to hug her mom tightly. Who knew how long it’d be before she saw him again? The towing service on this side of the island was going to take her and the Dancer out into South Blue, and she would have to find them again once she got back into the Grand Line. It would be _months_ , at the very least.

Sanji hugged her back just as hard, and Kyla leaned into him. “I’ll use Ren for my family name. That should help.”

“I’m going to worry about you.” he admitted quietly, and Kyla hugged him tighter for a second before pulling away to give her mom a wry smile.

“Mom, I’m the student of the World’s Greatest Swordsman. I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, but it’s a parent’s job to worry.” Sanji cupped her cheek, fingers brushing over her burn scar, and Kyla ducked her head. “So make sure you come find us once you’re back in Paradise, okay?”

“I’ve got Luffy’s vivre card.” Kyla grinned more genuinely. “And I’ll have to come home sooner or later to introduce you to my crew.”

“All hitched up!” called a voice from the stern, and Sanji sighed.

“That’s my cue.” he pulled her in for another quick hug, and pressed a kiss to her bangs. “I love you.” he stepped away, and Kyla walked over to the railing with him. Sanji jumped down to the shore, and something in her chest tightened as she waved goodbye. The Dancer lurched slightly under her feet, the massive cable above beginning to move, and her family were soon out of sight.

Kyla turned and walked to the bow of the ship, stepping up on the railing and seating herself cross-legged on the shark’s head. There was no wind, since the tow service existed to get ships through the Calm Belt, but the ship was moving quickly enough that her hair ruffled in the breeze. The tightness in her chest eased, and she began to smile. It was time to go out and have some adventures of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The blade of Kyla’s knife is made of san-mai steel, which is some of the _prettiest_ metal I’ve ever seen. Because lbr, Sanji would get his baby girl something pretty. The cat is an orange norwegian forest cat, and for reference, [this picture](http://www.askideas.com/media/24/Orange-Norwegian-Forest-Kitteen-Sitting-On-Pole.jpg) is of an orange norwegian forest kitten. And [this one](http://www.twinkle-kittys.de/babys/jerrybig2.jpg) is a fully grown norwegian forest cat. As for the allergy thing, personally, I think that Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Franky are all allergic to some degree. The Dancer is a caravel, like Merry, and since Usopp helped with the blueprints they’re more than just a little bit similar, though Dancer has a silvertip shark for a figurehead instead of a sheep.
> 
> Next week, the epilogue.


	63. Epilogue

Kyla turned onto her back and groaned. Even on Yabus she hadn’t had this much trouble falling asleep. Her cat was curled up next to her, a little ball of fluff which warmed her heart just to look at, but that did nothing to dislodge the cold heaviness which had settled behind her belly button. She’d spent the afternoon learning the feel of her ship, familiarizing herself with the layout, and the kitten had sat on her shoulder every step of the way. Well, except for when she’d leapt out of the crow’s nest for the hell of it. Then she’d tucked the ball of fluff in her haramaki, to make sure it didn’t get hurt, but he had climbed back out and perched on her shoulder pretty much the second her feet were on the grass.

She smiled at the memory, and turned onto her side so she could curl around her kitten. It would need a name sooner or later, but she wanted to come up with the right name. Kitty would suffice until then. She curled her arm in, and ran her fingers over the baby cat’s fluffy fur. It purred in its sleep, and Kyla smiled. Then her eyes landed on the bedside table, on the tone dial Brook had given her after breakfast, and she moved her hand so she could put weight on it without squishing her cat. The mattress felt so much wider without Nami and Robin to share it with, even though Kyla was pretty sure this bed was smaller than that one.

Brook had showed her how to rewind it earlier, so as she settled back down with her cat curled in the crook of her elbow, Kyla twisted the top spiral counter-clockwise. It took longer than she expected for the dial to click, signifying it couldn’t rewind any further, and she settled back down under the covers as the gentle white noise of rain washed over her. That was weird. Had Brook accidentally recorded her present on the end of some other recording? She moved to twist the top spiral and fast forward to her gift, but stopped when she heard familiar footsteps.

_’Can’t sleep, Eggplant?’_

Kyla drew a breath quickly, and looked at the tone dial with wide eyes. Had Brook gotten Sanji to record something for her? But how would he have known that she’d have trouble falling asleep?

 _‘Mhm.’_ A small cough. _‘My throat hurts.’_

That wasn’t any of her family, but it was definitely Sanji who’d spoken earlier so- wait, was that her voice? Kyla frowned. It was so weirdly high.

 _‘How about I sing for you?’_ Sanji offered, and suddenly Kyla knew exactly when this recording had been made. She’d caught a nasty cold, but the medicine Chopper made hadn’t done anything to soothe her sore throat and it had hurt too much for her to sleep.

The familiar lilting song started, and Kyla closed her eyes. Sanji had admitted that he didn’t know what most of the words meant, but it was a lullaby his mom had sung to him when he was little.

“Sur la mer-mer-mer de la Grand Line, sur la mer-mer-mer de la Grand Line, ohé ohé~” Kyla sang along quietly with one of the few lines she could guess the meaning of, and relaxed against her new mattress.

She was asleep before the song ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, that’s it! Sunny’s Girl is now officially over and done. The song Sanji sings is [Il était un petit navire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNiPMO5q_s), a French lullaby, with a few words changed to make it fit in the One Piece world. You can find a translation of the lyrics [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_%C3%A9tait_un_petit_navire). Next week on Monday (oh hey, Halloween!) I’ll be posting a new story about Kyla, this time focusing on her exploits as captain of her own crew. I’ve got quite a few things planned for her and her nakama, some of it even verging on Straw Hat levels of chaos and stupidity.
> 
> And before closing the curtains on this chunk of Kyla’s life, there’s someone I’d like to thank. [RyuichiSakuma](http://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuichiSakuma/), who has reviewed **every single chapter** of this story. You’re an author too, Ryuichi, so you know how much I mean it when I say  thank you for that. I may have written this story as an indulgence, but I’ve held myself to this posting schedule for my readers, all thirty or so of you. Thank you for loving Kyla as much as I do, and for sticking with me as long as you have :}


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